Steve Guerdat in the lead after day 1

In the saddle on Iashin Sitte, Guerdat produced a faultless ride in the hunter jumping competition. The London Olympic champion mastered the course just under half a second slower than the American Kent Farrington on Toulayna, who is leading the overall standings. With a fourth triumph after 2015, 2016 and 2019, Guerdat would become the sole record winner of the World Cup Final.

Martin Fuchs, on the other hand, is somewhat behind after the first day. The Zurich-based rider, winner of the unofficial 2022 World Indoor Championships in Leipzig, not only lost five seconds off the best time with Lorde, but also recorded a knockdown at the last obstacle, which earned him three penalty seconds. This puts him in 15th place among the 36 finalists.

In the three-part championships at the World Cup Final with prize money of almost 1.2 million Swiss francs, the first two competitions count towards the overall ranking - in the Texan metropolis these are the hunter jumping competition on Thursday and the competition on Friday in the classic format (4 penalty points per fault). The ranking points will only be converted into penalty points for the two final rounds on Sunday.