Great Britain heading for gold

21 august 2013

Great Britain is in the lead after today’s first round of the team competition in the P.S.I. FEI European Championships in Show Jumping. Switzerland is close behind on the second place and France is placed third after today’s competition

19 nations were on today’s starting list with the French team in the lead. The nations placed in the top 10 after the first round is allowed to start in the second and final round of the team competition which is tomorrow.

At the beginning of today’s competition France (Aymeric de Ponnat/Armitages Boy, Roger Yves Bost/Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois, Patrice Delaveau/Orient Express HDC, Kevin Staut/Silvana HDC) was in the lead with 3.14 faults. No. 2 was Great Britain (William Funnel/Billy Congo, Michael Whitaker/Viking, Ben Maher/Cella, Scott Brash/Hello Sancots) with 8.18 faults and third was Switzerland (Pius Schwizer/Piscou de Chene, Paul Estermann/Castlefield Eclipse, Janika Sprunger/Palloubet d’Halong, Steve Guerdat/Nino des Buissonnets) with 8.45 faults.

After 77 riders the top 3 was the same – but the ranks had changes. From Great Britain Ben Maher, Michael Whitaker and Scott Brash all produced clear rounds today, and with William Funnels 12 fault not counting in the overall score, the Brits finished with 0 faults today and 8.18 faults all together which puts them in the lead.

– She felt amazing! I wanted to have a bit more galop to the water because lots of riders had faults there, but she was just great. A really good result for the team, said Ben Maher after his ride.

The Swiss riders also did very well today – Paul Estermann, Januika Sprunger and Steve Guerdat where all clear, and Pius Schwizer was clear on the fence but with 1 time fault. Switzerland thus ended up with 0 faults today, and an overall score of 8.45 faults – they are in second place.

France was in the lead throughout the competition until their last rider, Kevin Staut. Two fences down for Staut and 4 faults for both Patrice Delaveau and Aymeric de Ponnat meant that the French team ended up with 8 faults today and a score of 11.14 in total and 3rd place.

Germany is fourth after clear rounds from Daniel Deusser and Ludger Beerbaum and 4 faults for both Carsten-Otto Nagel and Christian Ahlmann – and overall score of 12.77 faults. Sweden moved up the ranks today from seventh place yesterday to No. 5 today. Both Henrik von Eckermann and Rolf-Göran Bengtsson were clear, Angelica Augustsson had 4 faults – the Swedes ended up with an overall score of 13.44 faults.

The riders from the hosting nation Denmark all rode with 5 faults today and with an overall score of 32.08 faults they placed as No. 12 and are therefore not allowed to start in tomorrow’s final round of the team competition.

In the individual championship British Ben Maher is still in the lead, followed by Steve Guerdat, Roger Yves Bost, Rolf Göran Bengtsson and Lucian Diniz.

British Chef d’Equipe, Rob Hoekstra, is very pleased with the European Championships so far:

– Of course we are happy with the result so far, but we are only half way and there is a long way to go yet, and as we saw today the ranking can change really quickly.

– It is a fantastic staging, with an excellent set-up. The footing is a bit patchy – soft in places and harder in other places, and this makes it a bit difficult for the horses. But it is always a challenge when the footing is not permanent and is laid down so quickly. But we expect it to be better in the next couple of days when the footing sets. The rest of the organisation and the whole set-up is just fantastic, Rob Hoekstra says.

See the results HERE