Henrik von Eckermann was welcomed with flowers when he landed at Arlanda after the double World Cup gold in Denmark.
- Now it's starting to sink in.
Yesterday was just an extremely big relief after so many days, but now it's starting to sink in.
An incredible relief, says Henrik von Eckermann when SVT meets him at Arlanda.
The 41-year-old started the WC by winning the gold in team jumping and ended the championship by taking Sweden's first individual WC gold in jumping together with the horse King Edward.
What is behind the success?
- I am 41 years old and have been doing it since I was very small and this is work that we do every day, seven days a week.
And then this thing of finding the horses and building community and trust for an extremely long time.
Then there are small margins.
King Edward is probably the best horse in the world but there are big hurdles and many jumps during a championship, so it's a lot of work and patience.
Together with Malin Baryard Johnsson and Peder Fredricson, von Eckermann also took part in winning Olympic gold in team jumping in Tokyo last year.
But the WC gold is still special.
- The Olympic gold was fantastic in Tokyo, but this is extra fun.
Due to the pandemic, there was no crowd and no atmosphere in Tokyo.
Now it was like being at home in Denmark, there has been a fantastic Swedish crowd cheering us on all week.