Tag Archives: FEI European Driving Championships

Germany’s Michael Brauchle and Dutch Team Claim Gold at Aachen 2015

Michael Brauchle claimed individual gold and team silver for Germany in the final marathon phase at the FEI European Driving Championships in Aachen (GER) today. (FEI/Dirk Caremans)

Aachen (GER), 22 August 2015 – Michael Brauchle (GER) is the new individual FEI European Driving Champion after putting everything on the line in the final phase of the European Championships to win the marathon and overtake IJsbrand Chardon (NED) in the individual standings. The bronze individual medal went to Koos de Ronde (NED), and the combined scores of Chardon and de Ronde, together with 11th placed Theo Timmerman meant the Dutch claimed team gold again.

Exciting marathon

Brauchle, 25, was in fifth place after the dressage and cones and decided to really go for it in the marathon, his favourite phase of the competition. Brauchle was 56 seconds behind Chardon, overnight leader in the standings.

Winner of the marathon at the CAIO Aachen 2008, when he was the youngest ever, and in 2011 and 2013, Brauchle set the fastest times in six of the obstacles today and was second and third fastest in the remaining two, leaving his opponents far behind him.

“I was able to use my best wheeler horse again, which I had to miss in the previous two competitions,” Brauchle said. “I started very fast and the horses got better and better after each obstacle. I drove at full risk, then I am at my best!”

More than 58 seconds faster than Chardon, Brauchle’s incredible performance eased him ahead of his Dutch rival by the slimmest of margins – 0.21 – to give him victory in the marathon and his first ever individual gold medal.

Brauchle’s compatriot Christoph Sandmann was lying 12th going into the final phase and was also determined to perform well in the marathon, which attracted throngs of enthusiastic spectators who were able to enjoy a warm, sunny day and really great sport. Sandmann set top times in nearly all obstacles, securing second place in this competition and helping the German team to the silver medal.

Koos de Ronde’s third place finish gave him his second individual bronze medal at the FEI European Championships, having taken bronze in 2011 in Breda (NED).

“The differences between me and Dobrovitz and Brauchle were very small and my goal was to secure my third position by driving safely,” he said. “My team did not perform good enough to win the marathon at this level, but despite a knockdown in obstacle three I still finished third in this phase, for which I am very happy.”

Last out on the course, IJsbrand Chardon fought like a lion in the eight obstacles, designed by level 4 Course Designer Dr Wolfgang Asendorf. It didn’t come easy for the four-time World Champion, however.

“My horses did not have the right form to perform well today,” Chardon said. “I had a mistake in obstacle two, which cost me precious seconds. I did calculate before that I would lose some seconds to Brauchle in every obstacle, but I haven’t tried to equal his times because I wanted to finish safe.”

After Chardon had passed the finish line of the marathon, which included a portable marathon obstacle in the main stadium for the first time, the scoreboards showed Chardon provisionally in first place, with Brauchle as the runner-up in the final standings, but when the scores were made official later on, Brauchle was declared the new European champion with Chardon as silver medallist.

The team standings mirrored the 2013 results. The Dutch successfully defended their team title, while the German hosts fought hard and took home the silver medal again, while the Hungarians slotted into third for the bronze.

By Cindy Timmer

Media Contacts:

At Aachen:

Niels Knippertz
Press Officer
nielsknippertz@chioaachen.de
+49 (0) 241 9171 182

At FEI:

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

Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
Email: ruth.grundy@fei.org
Tel: +41 787 506 145

Belgium’s Brasseur at His Best in Driving Cones at Aachen 2015

Double world champion Felix Marie Brasseur from Belgium won the cones phase of the FEI European Driving Championships for Four-in-Hand at Aachen (GER). The final marathon phase tomorrow (22 August) will decide the European individual and team champions. (FEI/Dirk Caremans)

Aachen (GER), 21 August 2015 – The fully packed Driving stadium in Aachen hosted the second phase of the FEI European Driving Championships for Four-in-Hand this afternoon.

Tensions rose in tandem with the temperatures today during the exciting cones phase, with double world champion Felix Marie Brasseur from Belgium first of the 36 competitors to drive a double clear round, much to the pleasure of the enthusiastic spectators and Brasseur’s team members.

The next driver into the arena, Hungary’s József Dobrovitz, equalled this amazing performance, passing the finish line penalty free and placing second behind the slightly faster Brasseur. IJsbrand Chardon (NED) finished third with just 0,42 time penalties.

Selective course

German level 4 Course Designer Dr Wolfgang Asendorf had laid out a nice but selective course for the drivers. In the end, eight drivers drove the course within the time allowed and only Brasseur and Dobrovitz managed a clear round. “I am very pleased,” said Asendorf. “One part of the course was still a bit too tight in my opinion, but if I had changed that we would have had to change the time allowed as well. The time allowed was doable, but Felix really showed how to drive a double clear.”

Last competition

The FEI European Driving Championships for Four-in-Hand will be the last international competition for the Belgian legend Felix-Marie Brasseur, who finished fourth today. “Unfortunately, I do not have the necessary sponsors to continue the sport at this level, but my horses were super today, and they showed the same quality as during the dressage. I gave everything I had today. I wanted to start off clean and half way through the course I noticed that I was in time, so I continued like I did.”

First competition

József Dobrovitz proved to be a true horseman, driving his team of KWPN and Lipizzaner horses together for the first time as a four-in-hand. “For the leader horses it is actually their first competition in the four-in-hand. They have been driven in a pair before, but never in a team. I have practiced a lot with these horses at home and this has paid off today!” he said.

“At obstacle eight I thought I had a ball down. Luckily this was not the case, and after that I became ever more eager and concentrated. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s marathon. I will try to win around three seconds in each obstacle. I will really go for it!”

Dobrovitz is now second in the overall standings, nine penalty points behind IJsbrand Chardon, who has created a comfortable lead.

One point for podium

The top four in the team results has remained unchanged, but thanks to the strong performances of IJsbrand Chardon and Koos de Ronde, the defending European champion, the Netherlands are over 20 penalty points ahead of second-placed Hungary.

Belgium is still third, but Germany is less than one point behind a podium place. Both Michael Brauchle and Georg von Stein performed extremely well in the cones, and with three excellent marathon drivers in the team Germany will for sure ‘attack’ in this final phase of the European Championships, which will start at 11.05 tomorrow (22 August).

By Cindy Timmer

Media Contacts:

At Aachen:

Niels Knippertz
Press Officer
nielsknippertz@chioaachen.de
+49 (0) 241 9171 182

At FEI:

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

Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
Email: ruth.grundy@fei.org
Tel: +41 787 506 145

Dutch Dominate Driving at Aachen 2015

IJsbrand Chardon (NED) has won the dressage phase of the FEI European Driving Championships for Four-in-Hand 2015 in Aachen – all eyes are now on tomorrow’s second phase, the cones, before the European individual and team champions are crowned after the marathon stage on Saturday, 22 August. (FEI/Dirk Caremans)

Aachen (GER), 20 August 2015 – The Dutch four-in-hand drivers have dominated the dressage phase at the FEI European Driving Championships for Four-in-Hand in Aachen, which got underway yesterday with all 180 horses and 36 competitors.

The four-time world champion IJsbrand Chardon (NED) won this first phase of the Championships, ahead of his compatriot and defending European champion Theo Timmerman.

Spain’s Juan Antonio Real Garcia broke the “Orange domination” by finishing in third place, followed by the third Dutch team member Koos de Ronde in fourth.

With three Dutch drivers now in the top four, The Netherlands has taken an early lead, with Hungary and Belgium lying second and third respectively in the team standings.

Winning test

IJsbrand Chardon was second to go this morning and the 26-time Dutch Champion put down the winning test, despite a small mistake in the second walk when his right leader horse trotted. “I am very pleased with my performance, apart from the walk. The horses formed a nice team together and my wheeler horses were very good today. If the walk had gone well as well, this would have been my best test of the season,” said Chardon.

New wheeler horses

Defending European individual and team champion Theo Timmerman is competing with two new horses in the wheel of his team this season. The start to the season has not been easy, but today in the sunny and beautiful Deutsche Bank Stadion, it all worked out for him. “Our goal this season was to prepare for the FEI World Championships 2016 in Breda. If things had not worked out, that would have been our own choice. We decided not to start in Riesenbeck earlier this month, and we drove a national competition instead to build the four-in-hand even more. It went very well there and also in the training session with our national coach Harry de Ruyter, who kept faith in us. It is super that it worked out well today!” explained Timmerman.

Spain excels

Juan Antonio Real Garcia, the first starter today and finishing third, is trained by triple world champion Boyd Exell (AUS). A multiple four-in-hand champion, Real Garcia is competing with two horses from Exell’s four-in-hand gold medal winning team at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014. “I am very pleased with my test, despite two small mistakes. One of my leaders had a break in the walk and during the one-handed circle, which was a pity,” said Real Garcia.

Close scores

Hungarian drivers Zoltán Lázár and József Dobrovitz set the same score in the dressage today, finishing fifth and putting Team Hungary in second place.

The most experienced Belgian driver Felix-Marie Brasseur and his young compatriot Edouard Simonet finished in 7th and 8th respectively, and with very close scores of 48.79 and 48.90.

Michael Brauchle, whose best phase is normally the marathon, put down the best German performance in the dressage phase. Brauchle finished ninth, followed by his team mates Georg von Stein and Christoph Sandmann.

Friday cones

The FEI European Driving Championships 2015 will enter the second phase tomorrow (21 August), with the cones competition. As with Saturday’s final marathon stage, tomorrow’s cones phase will see athletes start in reverse order of results.

By Cindy Timmer

Media Contacts:

At Aachen:

Niels Knippertz
Press Officer
nielsknippertz@chioaachen.de
+49 (0) 241 9171 182

At FEI:

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

Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
Email: ruth.grundy@fei.org
Tel: +41 787 506 145

Record Number of Nations Represented at Driving Championships

Individual European champion Theo Timmerman (NED) will be looking to retain his title at the FEI European Driving Championships in Aachen (GER) this week. (Rinaldo de Craen/FEI)

Lausanne (SUI), 17 August 2015 – A record number of 14 nations will be represented at the ninth edition of the FEI European Driving Championships for Four-in-Hand in Aachen (GER), which gets underway on Wednesday 19 August.

A total of 37 drivers will battle it out for the individual medals, with 12 nations fielding teams. Romania and Portugal have one individual each, while Germany has host nation privileges and will have both a full team of three drivers, plus three individuals.

The full list of nations competing in Aachen is: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The FEI European Driving Championships for Four-in-Hand were first held in 1971 in Budapest (HUN) and continued to be held every two years until 1981.

The Championships moved to Windsor in Great Britain in 1973, Sopot in Poland in 1975, Donaueschingen in Germany in 1977 and Haras du Pin in France in 1979. The sixth edition took place in 1981 in Zug, Switzerland. These Championships were re-launched in 2011 in Breda (NED) and the most recent Championships were held in Izsák, Hungary, in 2013.

Defending team and individual titles

The Dutch, always the ones to be reckoned with, will be defending the team title they won both in Izsák two years ago and in Breda in 2011.

The “Orange team”, which has been unbeaten for a long time at the Championships, is composed of the same three drivers: IJsbrand Chardon (individual gold in 2011), Koos de Ronde (individual bronze in 2011) and defending individual European champion Theo Timmerman.

The German and Hungarian teams were in a strong fight for silver and bronze during the previous two editions and both teams will be doing their very best to prevent the Dutch from taking home another gold medal.

The German team is made up of multiple medal winners Christoph Sandmann, Georg von Stein and Michael Brauchle.

Hungary still leads the medal table overall, claiming five individual and five team titles down through the years. And the 2015 Hungarian team also has its share of medallists in the very successful drivers József Dobrovitz, who won individual silver in 2011, his son József junior and 2013 bronze individual medallist Zoltán Lázár.

But the Belgians are in fighting form with the very experienced Félix-Marie Brasseur and the young and talented drivers Glenn Geerts and Edouard Simonet, and can’t be discounted as medal contenders.

Timetable:

Tuesday, 18 August
10.00 – Horse inspection

Wednesday, 19 August
10.00-14.00 – Dressage (1st part)

Thursday, 20 August
10.00-14.00 – Dressage (2nd part)

Friday, 21 August
14.00-17.00 – Cones

Saturday, 22 August
11.50-15.25 – Marathon
20.25 – Prize-giving ceremony

Facts and Figures:
A total of 14 nations will participate in the FEI European Championships 2015 for Four-in-Hand Driving at Aachen (GER).

12 countries have entered teams.

2 nations will be represented only by individual drivers – Romania and Portugal.

Germany, as host nation, can have both a team and individuals.

A total of 184 Driving horses will be on site at the Soers showground.

This is the 9th edition of the FEI European Championships for Four-in-Hand Driving, and the first time that the event will take place in Aachen.

The inaugural FEI European Championships for Four-in-Hand Driving took place in Budapest (HUN) in 1971.

Hungary holds the record for the highest number of individual victories with five in total.

Hungary also holds the record for the greatest number of wins in the team event, with five to date.

The defending champions are the Dutch, who produced their second consecutive win at the last Championships staged in Izsák, Hungary in 2013.

By Cindy Timmer

Media Contacts:

At Aachen:

Niels Knippertz
Press Officer
nielsknippertz@chioaachen.de
+49 (0) 241 9171 182

At FEI:

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

Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
Email: ruth.grundy@fei.org
Tel: +41 787 506 145