In Tokyo 2020, Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann stood on top of the Olympic podium as part of the gold medal-winning equestrian jumping team.
Four years later, at Paris 2024, the then-unbeatable world No. 1 pair experienced the other extreme.
Riding King Edward, widely regarded as one of the best jumping horses in the world, Von Eckermann unexpectedly fell during the individual final, bringing their Olympic title bid to a shocking end.
“I had a gold medal in Tokyo with the team. I fell off in Paris,” Von Eckermann told Olympics.com. “That’s a big range.”
Having come to terms with what happened in Paris, and with 16-year-old King Edward now retired, the former world and Olympic champion is (literally) back in the saddle, this time competing aboard bay stallion Minute Man at the FEI World Championships Aachen 2026 in Aachen, Germany.
But he’s not looking back. Nor, necessarily, is he looking too far forward. For now, Von Eckermann is “keeping it simple”.
In an exclusive conversation in Aachen, Olympics.com asked Von Eckermann about his approach to the LA28 Olympic Games, now just two years away.
“World Championship in Aachen. Nothing about the Olympics. That’s too far ahead,” he said.
There is, of course, an Olympic dimension to what happens in Aachen.
The first LA28 jumping quota places will be secured* through the team competition, with seven quota spots, representing 21 athlete-horse combinations, available to the seven highest-ranked eligible teams at the World Championships, excluding Olympic host nation the United States.
“If we do good, we [Sweden] are qualified. If we don’t do good, we’re not qualified,” he said. “So, yeah, keep it simple.”
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the LA Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at LA28.
