Equestrian Sport: Germany's Marcus Ehning snatched a last-minute victory from Britain's Nick Skelton in the London 2012 Grand Prix on the closing night of the Olympia show jumping championships in London on Monday.

The German team gold medallist at the Sydney Olympics four years ago was one of 14 through to the timed decider and he used his last-to-go draw to full advantage.

Frenchman Philippe Rozier, winner of the World Cup pre-qualifier last Friday night, looked set to add the Grand Prix to his haul for the week when setting the early target with the mare, Heritiere d'Adrier.

His time of 37.98 was sharp enough to force mistakes from his rivals, most notably Robert Smith, who shaved off .32 of a second but ironically hit the London 2012 upright one from home.

Ehning's compatriot Lars Nieberg gave it his best shot with another mare, Lucie, but was almost half a second adrift on the clock and then it was down to Billy Twomey, trying to become the first Irish winner since Eddie Macken claimed the show's finale back in 1987.

It was looking good right down to the last, but Anastasia just trailed the top pole off the final upright and eventually slid down to ninth for a reward of just £350.

"She jumped the last like she was a bit tired," Twomey said. afterwards, "But she's jumped really well in the last couple of months and won a lot of money. She's probably doing a step above her job because of Luidam being off."

With three still waiting in the wings, Nick Skelton gave the partisan British crowd something to cheer about when slicing off over half a second to take the lead with the stallion Arko, but Ehning had the last word when coming home .40 to the good with the talented Sandro Boy for the win.