The runner-up last year in the same class, this time around the 31-year old left all the other 38 competitors trailing in his wake. In the saddle on the 12-year old gelding SL Brazonado, which he also rode in 2016, he posted a clear round in 54.67 seconds which was almost three seconds ahead of the three-time eventing Olympic champion Michael Jung from nearby Horb on the eight-year old Westphalian mare fischerSolution (0/57.30). Third was the Swiss Paul Estermann and his Oldenburg mare who was also faultless, but in 59.99 seconds.