The FEI modified the rules replacing the semi-final, which had been the third competition the previous year in Paris, by another qualifying competition counting 150%. The four best riders after the first three competitions qualified for the final. One rider per nation was allowed in the final.
The defending champion Francisco Goyoaga was pre-qualified for the final, regardless of his performance in the qualifications. This could have prevented another Spanish rider from participating in the final, which was considered unfair. It was therefore decided that the horse of the defending champion would be ridden only by himself and he would not ride the horse of the other Spanish rider.
There was indeed a Spanish rider in the final – Jaime García Cruz aboard Quoniam – who ended in fifth place.
In 1954, Hans Günter Winkler (GER) and his legendary mare Halla were in great form. The previous year they had not made it to the final as they had performed poorly in the second qualification round Puissance.
This time around Winkler and Halla made it to the final alongside Pierre Jonquères d’Oriola (FRA) on Arlequin; Salvatote Oppes (ITA) on Pagoro; Jaime Garcia Cruz (ESP) on Quoniam; and the defending champion Francisco Goyoaga aboard Baden. Winkler managed three clear rounds and had one fence down with Pagoro thus becoming world champion.
Pagoro was the best horse with only two fences down.
This was Winkler’s first major international accolade. In 1952 he had won his first German championship but had not participated in the Helsinki Olympic Games that same year since he had been classified as a professional due to his teaching in the 1940s. Only amateur athletes had been allowed in the Olympics at the time. Later that year he qualifier as an amateur and went on to win seven Olympic medals – five of them gold – at six Olympic Games, two world titles, and five European medals.
In his impressive career spanning four decades, Hans Günter Winkler won over 600 shows, rode in 105 Nations Cups and was Germany’s Sports Personality of the Year on two occasions. On 13 July 1986, having become the most successful Jumping athlete of all time, he rode his last lap of honour during the traditional Farewell of Nations in Aachen (GER) and retired from competition.
Winkler continued his equestrian activities as a trainer, consultant, and author and passed away on 9 July 2018 at the age of 91.
The bay mare Halla became a legend in her own right. Born on 16 May 1945 at a yard in Darmstadt (GER), Halla was first trained as a steeplechaser before she was discovered by the German Olympic Committee who saw in her Eventing potential. After some unsuccessful attempts at Eventing, she was deemed too difficult and changed riders several times.
In 1951, she was taken on by the then-rising star Winkler and together they formed one of Jumping’s most prolific and successful partnerships winning no less than 125 competitions. They were heroic at the 1956 Olympic Games in Stockholm, where Winkler had been injured in the first round. He decided to ride in the second round despite the agonizing pain as the German team would have been eliminated without him. Staying away from painkillers, which caused dizziness and double vision, and running solely on black coffee, Winker gave Halla only the most basic steering instructions. The pair went clear securing team and individual gold. They won another Olympic team gold in Rome in 1960 becoming Jumping’s most decorated Olympic pair.
Halla was retired from competition after Rome and died on 19 May 1979 at the grand old age of 34.
In 1996, Hans Günter Winkler founded the Halla Challenge Trophy, which is awarded at CHIO Aachen to the owner of the show’s best horse on the final Sunday of the event every year.
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