Lausanne (SUI), 18 July 2011 – Alena Tseliapushkina (BLR) led from the start to put her stamp on the fifth leg of the FEI World Cup Eventing held on her home ground at Minsk (BLR).
Riding her 2008 Beijing Olympic horse, Passat, she scored the only sub-50 Dressage mark and added just 1.6 time penalties across the country to finish ahead of Russian rider Mykhailo Nastenko on Coolroy Pit.
In what Technical Delegate Andy Griffiths (GBR) described as a first-class event, attended by the Belarusian Minister for Sport, there was an impressive 30 starters from Russia and Belarus. A total of 23 finished the Cross Country, with 15 of those clear over the fences and three also inside the time. Twenty-three horses completed the competition, which was televised.
Runner-up Nastenko also gained useful extra points with an eighth place, but it was Aliaksandr Faminou (BLR) who made the biggest impact on the FEI World Cup Eventing rankings by shooting into third in the standings when scooping fourth, sixth and seventh placings.
New Zealander Clarke Johnstone is still way out in front in the rankings, having won the first two events of the season. He is now based in Britain, from where he can easily compete at the next leg in Malmö (SWE) on 05-07 August 2011 and the final event at Haras du Pin (FRA) on 18-21 August to secure his pole position.