Equestrian sport: Shock for Olympic champion: Kukuk not nominated for home World Championships

He had been informed the day before by national coach Otto Becker and, according to his own statement, had not received any explanation. “I can’t understand it at all,” emphasized the rider, who worked for Ludger Beerbaum for many years and is now self-employed.

European champion leads the World Cup team

The World Cup quartet is led by European champion Richard Vogel with United Touch, with whom he also won the Aachen Grand Prix almost five weeks ago. The team also includes André Thieme with Chakaria, Sophie Hinners with Singclair and Daniel Deußer with Otello. The substitute is Marcus Ehning with Coolio. Kukuk is only a second reserve.

“That was a difficult and hard decision,” said national coach Becker when asked about Kukuk’s exit from the World Cup. “I don’t want to comment on the individual pairs. We have six strong pairs and had to decide on an order with the committee.”

Kukuk unexpectedly won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris with the horse Checker, which partly belongs to soccer star Thomas Müller. The 36-year-old professional last impressed in March when he won the League of Nations tournament in Ocala/USA with the national team riding Checker and delivered two error-free rounds.

Kukuk was actually planning for the World Cup

“It was then agreed with the national coach that Checker should not go to any more Nations Cups and that the plan was towards Aachen,” reported Kukuk. Until the call with the World Cup cancellation there had been no discussions about alternative planning.

At their last appearance in Aachen, Kukuk and Checker were eliminated from the Grand Prix at the end of May with eight penalty points after the first round. At the beginning of June, the professional from Warendorf won the title in the saddle of Akarad Tivoli at the German championship in Balve.