Together with his twin brother Nicola, Olivier makes a great start this year. The two dominate at the Hong Kong Tatler Trophy, during the Longines Masters. Olivier and H&M Challenge vd Begijnakker Z are unbeatable. Shortly after, Olivier’s luck takes a turn for the worse. He falls and gets underneath the horse and sustains a concussion. As a result, he will miss the World Cup contest in Göteburg. He gets back into the saddle as soon as he can and, among others, he joins the Antwerp and Lummen contest, two important Belgian jumping contests. In the Nations Cup in Lummen, the Belgian team, that Olivier is part of, ranked 3rd. In Drammen, the Belgians shift up one more position toward the top.
The 23-year old equestrian from Limburg is currently 26th in the world. Oliver’s hard work is being rewarded as he is selected for the European Championship in Göteburg in August. But it is not to be, during the practice lap for the EC something goes wrong. Olivier gets catapulted across H&M Legend of Love’s neck and his shoulder gets dislocated. Oliver is going through a tough and difficult period. “I was very cranky at times. The only thing I wanted was to do my sport, but I had to rehabilitate first, before I could get back. This was a particularly tough period, but Lieven Maesschalck and his Move to Cure team supported me tremendously.” His comeback in October is immediately successful. With his mare H&M Legend of Love, he wins the Great Prize at Jumping Indoor Maastricht. A highly emotional victory. Doing this, he follows in the footsteps of dad Ludo, who won the GP of Maastricht in 1990 and brother Nicola, who won the 2016 GP with Zilverstar.
Also the end of the year turns out to be a tough period. Olivier’s stallion Cabrio v/d Heffinck, who brought him a number of podium finishes, says goodbye to the sport and will, in the future, be used only as a breeding stallion in Zangersheide. It’s not easy to say goodbye to a fantastic horse like Cabrio.
