• Save

Germany Makes It Five in a Row

Andreas Ostholt at Waregem (BEL), penultimate leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing 2014 (Photo: EventingPhoto.com/FEI).

Lausanne (SUI), 29 September, 2014 – An in-form German team reigned supreme at Waregem (BEL), the eighth and penultimate competition in the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing 2014. They scored a fifth successive victory in the series and have now extended their lead to 10 points over Great Britain, who finished second at Belgium’s premier event.

Andreas Ostholt, riding Pennysylvania 28, Anna-Maria Rieke (Petite Dame), Andreas Dibowski (FRH Butts Avedon) and Josefa Sommer (Hamilton 24) finished first, third, sixth and seventh respectively.

Although the Germans led after the Dressage and Jumping phases, 12 faults from Dressage leader Dibowski narrowed the gap between the two leading nations so that it came down to a mere four time penalties at the start of Cross Country.

Sarah Bullimore (Lilly Corinne) and Nicky Roncoroni (Stonedge) both achieved the optimum Cross Country time and finished the competition in fourth and fifth places to give Britain an obvious chance of challenging for the lead, with fifth-placed Lucy Wiegersma going last for the team on Mr Chunky.

However, Wiegersma withdrew the horse before Cross Country due to a minor injury, so Britain had to count the score of their pathfinder, 12th-placed Tom McEwen on Diesel, who had 10 time faults, and settle for second place.

Ireland rose two places after Cross Country to finish third, with Wiegersma’s partner Padraig McCarthy getting a fine tune across country on her former ride, Simon Porloe, to finish in 10th place.

The home side, Belgium, made their first appearance in the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing this year and took fourth place. France, down to two riders after Margot Chabanne (Mitou de Mas) had a rider fall at fence 5 and Arnaud Boiteau (Sultan de la Motte) was eliminated for cumulative refusals, slipped to fifth place.

The Cross Country course, designed by Waregem’s Event Director Tom Ryckewaert (BEL), provided an exciting climax to the competition. The track was straightforward and on perfect going, but its undulations and changing cambers meant that horses needed to be in perfect balance, and the time was influential. There were 39 clear rounds from the 49 Cross Country starters, with 10 inside the time.

The action now moves to the always popular Dutch venue of Boekelo in a fortnight’s time for the CCIO3* final of the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing 2014, and the big question has to be whether any other country can prevent the seemingly unstoppable Germans running away with this series and scoring a record sixth consecutive win.

Full results on www.eventingwaregem.be.

View the standings here: www.fei.org/fei/events/fei-nations-cup-eventing/current-results.

The FEI’s team Eventing series, the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing, is open to all nations fielding one team composed of 3 or 4 riders at each leg, and runs under FEI Eventing rules at CICO and CCIO 3* level with riders accumulating points under a dedicated system detailed here.

Visit the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing series hub here for rules, results and Organiser details.

FEI Media Contacts:

Grania Willis
Director Media Relations
Grania.willis@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 42

Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
ruth.grundy@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 45

Leave a Reply