The shore of Miami Beach was electrified on Thursday as the first CSI5* day of the highly-anticipated 2024 Longines Global Champions Tour kicked off in spectacular fashion. The world’s top show jumping athletes have converged on the spectacular site for an exhilarating four days of fun, sun and entertainment, April 3-6.
Dutch rider Maikel van der Vleuten emerged victorious aboard Elwikke in one of the closest speed class showdowns of the year, clinching the CSI5* title in the 1.45m class by a mere 0.08 of a second. Late in the class, van der Vleuten stopped the clock, edging longtime leader Natalie Dean (USA) and setting the stage for what promises to be an unforgettable three days of competition.
Talking to GCTV, Maikel said, “We had a great show here last year, so always good to come back to Miami Beach at this iconic location. Fingers crossed for the team GCL class tomorrow and we can repeat what we did last year. We had a good round today, Elwikke was really focused the whole round and was feeling really comfortable… I could use her big stride, so now and then I could leave some strides out. We had a very smooth round without taking too much energy out of her.”