The South African Vaulting squad is a big hit with spectators at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy. (Jon Stroud/FEI)
Normandy (FRA), 3 September 2014 – Day two of the Vaulting championships at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Normandy saw Germany take the lead in the Squad by a margin of 0.47 marks ahead of Switzerland, while the first-day winners from Austria are now lying third. Freestyle scores for both teams and individuals are combined with Compulsory scores to create an average qualification score for the next round in each category.
Meanwhile, Great Britain’s Joanne Eccles heads yesterday’s winner, Rikke Laumann from Denmark, in the Female Individual Freestyle while Frenchman Jacques Ferrari continues to dominate the Male Individual leaderboard, and the stage looks set for really hot competition throughout the remainder of the week.
The Zenith Arena again provided a superb backdrop to the creativity and talent of the world’s best vaulters today, and competitors and supporters from around the globe enjoyed a great day of sport.
Squad
The all-female Swiss team won this morning’s Freestyle with their grey horse Will Be Good lunged by Monica Winkler-Bischofberger but the second-placed German squad maintained the overall lead with a total of 8.390. However, some of the show-stealers finished much further down the line.
The South African squad produced an inspiring and emotional performance based on the principle of equality in both sport and life, and the voice of the late and much-loved South African statesman, Nelson Mandela, added an extra poignancy to their programme. Many spectators and officials were seen brushing tears from their eyes as an essay on tolerance and reconciliation was played out, and although the relatively inexperienced squad had to settle for ninth place, on a mark of 6.901 at the end of the day, they left a deep impression on all who saw them perform.
Further down the line there was drama of a different kind when 10-year-old Dorottya Gönczi took a long fall during a routine with the Hungarian squad that finished in 11th place. Undeterred, however, and demonstrating the precise nature of the best athletes in every sport, the brave young lady just picked herself up, dusted herself off and then got back to work right away.
Male Individual
Jacques Ferrari has now scored back-to-back wins following Tuesday’s opening success in the Male Individual Compulsory. World champion and fellow-Frenchman, Nicolas Andreani, however, has been right on his heels each time and today challenged strongly again.
World vice-champion Erik Oese moved into third. The 26-year-old pipped Andreani for the Male title at CHIO Aachen last summer and was runner-up behind the Frenchman at Ebreichsdorf. With his horse, Calvador, and his lunger Andreas Bassler, Oese lies 0.276 off the lead.
Meanwhile, Lambert Leclezio from Mauritius has been attracting a lot of attention for his empathy with his horse, Timothy van de Wilhelminah, and for his natural athleticism. The vaulter who has arrived at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ Vaulting Championships through support from the FEI Solidarity programme has put in a lot of work to get here, including travelling all the way to Australia in order to compete at a level that would earn qualification for the Games.
Female Individual
Performing to “I dreamed a dream” from the musical “Les Miserables”, Great Britain’s Joanne Eccles won today’s Freestyle competition partnering her family’s horse WH Bentley, who is lunged by her father, John.
Her score of 8.619 leaves here with a lead of just 0.075 ahead of yesterday’s winner, Denmark’s Rikke Laumann, who finished second today. Switzerland’s Simone Jaiser lined up fourth behind Italy’s Anna Cavallaro, but Jaiser goes into tomorrow’s competition in bronze medal spot ahead of Cavallaro when the two days of results are taken into account.
Laumann realised a dream when winning the FEI European Vaulting Championship Female Individual title at Magna Racino in Austria last year and won’t be easily pinned back this week. Her horse is Ghost Alfarvad Z and her lunger is Lasse Kristensen.
The top 15 Male and Female Individuals go through to tomorrow’s (Thursday) Technical test which begins at 14.00, and there is great anticipation ahead of the popular Pas-de-Deux which will take place later in the evening. The top 12 teams go forward to Friday’s final.
Full results and startlists at www.normandy2014.com.
By Louise Parkes
Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014
The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy (FRA) on 23 August – 7 September brings together close to 1,000 riders and 1,000 horses from 74 nations for 15 days of world-class competition in Jumping, Dressage and Para-Equestrian Dressage, Eventing, Driving, Endurance, Vaulting and Reining.
For more information, see: www.normandy2014.com.
History Hub
The FEI World Equestrian Games™ are held every four years in the middle of the Olympic and Paralympic cycle. They were first hosted in Stockholm (SWE) in 1990 and have since been staged in The Hague (NED) in 1994, Rome (ITA) in 1998, Jerez (ESP) in 2002, and Aachen (GER) in 2006. The first Games to be organised outside Europe were the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Kentucky (USA) 2010.
Visit the FEI History Hub here.
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