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Championships, Competitions, Dressage, FEI, Para-Equestrian

Great Britain Sees Challenge from Netherlands on First Day of Team Competition

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Great Britain’s Sophie Christiansen was the highest scoring athlete of today’s first Team competition at the FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2015 in Deauville (FRA) – all eyes are now on the action tomorrow (19 September), when the European team and Individual medallists will be crowned. (Jon Stroud/FEI)

Deauville (FRA), 18 September 2015 – Great Britain saw off a formidable challenge from the Netherlands to take the lead in the first part of the Team competition today at the FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2015 in Deauville (FRA).

The Netherlands’ riders won three of the five tests on offer today, but strong performances from Great Britain’s Sophie Christiansen, Anne Dunham and Sophie Wells gave the British team a slight advantage after the first day of competition.

Competing in Grade Ia, Christiansen obtained the highest score of the day with 76.130% on her new horse Athene Lindebjerg, a sweet victory as this is their first major championships together. Teammate Dunham placed second with 75.261%, a fraction ahead of Norway’s Jens Lasse Dokkan. These scores, combined with a strong performance from Wells, were enough for Team GBR to gain the lead at the end of day one.

“I knew we had to raise our score and ride a solid test,” said Christiansen. “When I went into the arena though, that was not what I was thinking about. I was thinking about my horse and hoping to get the best out of her, and I knew that would come. I was quite nervous going in there today not knowing how she would react. I’m so proud of Athene and my team.”

Such was the strength of the Grade Ia competition that its top four placed athletes were the highest scoring athletes across all grades today.

In Grade Ib, Nicole Den Dulk led the charge scoring 73.120% on Wallace N.O.P. to take the win. Second place went to Stinna Tange Kaastrup of Denmark, while Austria’s Pepo Puch took third.

Den Dulk said: “I won! It doesn’t happen often that I beat two Olympic and world champions. It was a great ride and my confidence was there, and I know we can do it. You need a bit of luck as well, but I was still up two per cent and I hope to do it again tomorrow. We have a tough group with a lot of competition, but competition makes you stronger, and for me it’s just a great day.”

Den Dulk’s teammate Frank Hosmar, individual, freestyle and team bronze medallist at London 2012 and double bronze medallist at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014, scored his very first European Championship victory in today’s Grade IV. Riding Alphaville N.O.P. his healthy 74.00% put Great Britain’s Sophie Wells into second place, with Germany’s Carolin Schnarre and Denmark’s Line Kongensgaard joint third.

Hosmar said: “This is my first European Championship win! We’ve trained a lot and Alphaville is getting stronger. Now we can really get into the details and that’s working out really well. I’ve had him since he was four, and he’s now 10. All the pieces are falling together now.”

Making her European Championship debut, current Grade II world champion Rixt Van Der Horst (NED) won her class just ahead of Great Britain’s Natasha Baker and Belgium’s Barbara Minneci. Riding Uniek NOP, Van Der Horst scored 72.618%.

“I’m very happy. I was relaxed and he [Uniek NOP] gave me a really good feeling and felt great,” said Der Horst. “We had a really good test. I’ve won all my international tests this year and he is getting better and better. We improve every time.”

Germany’s Hannelore Brenner won the Grade III on Women of the World. The multi European, World and Paralympic Champion scored 71.474%, to finish just ahead of Anne Katrin Lubbe from Norway, and the Netherlands’ Lotte Krijnsen. Germany currently lies in third place for the Team competition.

Next stop – Team & Individual medals

The FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2015 continue tomorrow, when the Team and first Individual medals will be won.

The Team medallists will be crowned based on the top three scores for each nation from tomorrow’s Individual tests, combined with the top three scores from today’s Team tests.

See today’s full results here: www.handiequicompet.fr/en/419/results.

Facts & figures:

75 athletes from 20 nations are competing at the FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2015 in Deauville.

14 countries have entered teams – three more than in 2013. They are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

Six nations will be represented by individual riders: Czech Republic, Israel, Latvia, Portugal, Switzerland and Slovakia.

Great Britain topped the medal table with seven golds at the JSYK FEI Para-Dressage Championships 2013 in Herning (DEN).

Share and enjoy the action on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram:

www.facebook.com/europeanparadressage2015
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Check out the FEI European Para-Dressage Championships 2015 online: http://bit.ly/1KonJgV & press kit: http://bit.ly/1iiVvO6.

Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games (7-18 September 2016), the first Paralympic Games to be held in South America, Equestrian will celebrate 20 years in the Paralympic Movement. Brazil, as host nation, has earned automatic team qualification for Rio. Three nations – Great Britain, Netherlands and Germany – qualified team spots for Rio at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014, which was Equestrian’s first team qualifying opportunity for Rio. Now, all starting places in Rio are based on individual and team ranking points, so the FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2015 in Deauville are hugely important for all athletes competing. See dedicated Paralympic Games hub here for detailed information: www.fei.org/fei/games/paralympic/rio-2016.

By Rob Howell

FEI European Para-Dressage Championships Media Contact:

Aliénor de La Rochefoucauld
alienor@anchor-equestrian.fr
+33 (0) 1 44 38 80 22
+33 (0) 6 62 15 54 15

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

Championships, Competitions, Dressage, FEI, Para-Equestrian

Twenty Nations Head to First FEI European Para-Dressage Championships in France

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Denmark’s Stinna Tange Kaastrup, former World Grade Ib champion and 2011 European freestyle gold medallist, scored double bronze at the 2013 Europeans. She will be looking to get back on top at the three-day FEI European Para-Dressage Championships 2013 in Deauville, France, which start tomorrow. (Liz Gregg/FEI)

Lausanne (SUI), 17 September 2015 – A total of 75 athletes from 20 nations will compete at the FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2015 which get underway tomorrow (18 September) in Deauville (FRA), where a three-day battle for medals will take place alongside one of the last major pushes for world ranking points for Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualification.

Just one year after the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Normandy (FRA), the region, which is steeped in equestrian sport, will once again be welcoming spectators with open arms, and with free entry, to France’s very first FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships.

Great Britain faces toughest competition yet

British riders have been the ones to beat for pretty much the entire history of Para-Equestrian Dressage, but over the last few years there have been signs of a real challenge to this dominance from other European athletes.

While Team GBR is as determined as ever to keep the top spot, a number of key rivalries are developing in the sport’s five grades, including a fascinating head-to-head between the Netherlands and Germany.

Grade Ia has, for the last few years at least, been dominated by Britain’s Sophie Christiansen. She famously took three gold medals – team, individual and freestyle – at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and swiftly repeated this at the JYSK FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2013.

At last year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™, Christiansen was a hot favourite to repeat “the triple” and become one of the few athletes to hold Paralympic, European and World titles simultaneously. While she smoothly took the individual honours in Normandy, Italy’s Sara Morganti, who won individual and freestyle bronze at the 2013 Europeans, beat Christiansen in the freestyle with a superb display of horsemanship to the My Fair Lady soundtrack.

Both athletes will also have to tackle the challenge posed by Great Britain’s Anne Dunham, who won consecutive gold medals at four Paralympic Games starting in Atlanta in 1996, and is Christiansen’s closest domestic rival. Dunham took home double silver and team gold at the 2013 Europeans, and is definitely one to watch in Deauville.

Tough at the top

Great Britain’s Lee Pearson, the 10-time Paralympic gold medalist, had a disappointing London 2012 by his own high standards. He was aiming for his 11th gold medal, which would have matched the tally achieved by wheelchair racer Tanni Grey-Thompson, but although Pearson was on the gold medal winning team in London, he had to settle for freestyle bronze and individual silver. He wasn’t selected for the 2013 Europeans but, used to overcoming challenges, Pearson worked solidly on his new horse, Zion, to come storming back at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 to take the team, individual and freestyle Ib titles.

In Deauville, Pearson will once again be up against the London 2012 winner, and current double European champion and World silver medalist, Austria’s Pepo Puch.

But it’s not just Pearson and Puch in the running for the medals. Add in the Netherlands’ double World bronze winning Nicole Den Dulk to the mix, and then stir in former World Champion Stinna Tange Kaastrup of Denmark, the double bronze medalist at the 2013 Europeans, and the Grade Ib competition could be the most exciting of these Championships.

Real surprise

The real surprise of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 was the sudden emergence of Dutch superstar Rixt Van Der Horst in Grade II. Competing at her first major international, the young rider knocked outright favourite Natasha Baker (GBR), the London 2012 individual and freestyle gold medalist and triple gold medalist at the 2013 Europeans, off the top of the podium to take both individual titles.

Since then, Van Der Horst has used that experience to rack up a slew of top scores in competitions across Europe, and will definitely be out to prove that the Worlds was not a one-off.

Baker, on exciting new horse Sooki St James, will also be aiming to lay the crucial groundwork ahead of next year’s Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, which she says is now her number one focus.

German/Dutch face-off

Germany’s Hannelore Brenner and the Netherlands’ Sanne Voets will be going head-to-head in Grade III. Until the 2013 Europeans, Brenner had won pretty much every major championship she competed in, scoring straight golds at the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games and the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2010 in Kentucky (USA).

But that changed in 2013, when Voets took the European title in the freestyle, a feat she repeated at last year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Normandy.

Home advantage could well come into play this year too. France has its best chance of a Grade III medal at these Championships with José Letarte, who took double bronze at the 2013 Europeans.

Dutch courage

Belgium’s Michèle George is the rider to beat in the Grade IV competition, and Britain’s Sophie Wells will be out to do just that. Following World and European success in 2010 and 2011 respectively, Wells was hoping home advantage would swing things her way at London 2012, but it was not to be, and she took individual and freestyle silver behind George.

The pendulum swung back in Wells’ favour at the 2013 Europeans, but while the British athlete swept up three golds, setting the stage for a mighty battle in Normandy last year, it was George who topped the podium in Normandy, taking both titles in a thrilling competition.

The Netherlands’ Frank Hosmar is also a force to be reckoned with in Grade IV. He won individual and freestyle bronze at London 2012 and in Normandy last year, behind George and Wells, and double silver at the 2013 Europeans.

As with all the Dutch riders, the sense of imminent breakthrough at the FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2015 is strong.

Facts & figures

75 athletes from 20 nations will compete at the FEI European Para-Dressage Championships 2015 in Deauville.

14 countries have entered teams – three more than in 2013. They are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

Six nations will be represented by individual riders: Czech Republic, Israel, Latvia, Portugal, Switzerland and Slovakia.

Great Britain topped the medal table with seven golds at the JSYK FEI Para-Dressage Championships 2013 in Herning (DEN).

Share and enjoy the action on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram:

www.facebook.com/europeanparadressage2015
www.facebook.com/the.fei
@myfei_home
https://instagram.com/feicomms/?hl=en

#EuroPara2015

Check out the FEI European Para-Dressage Championships 2015 online: http://bit.ly/1KonJgV & press kit: http://bit.ly/1iiVvO6.

Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games (7-18 September 2016), the first Paralympic Games to be held in South America, Equestrian will celebrate 20 years in the Paralympic Movement. Brazil, as host nation, has earned automatic team qualification for Rio. Three nations – Great Britain, Netherlands and Germany – qualified team spots for Rio at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014, which was Equestrian’s first team qualifying opportunity for Rio. Now, all starting places in Rio are based on individual and team ranking points, so the FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2015 in Deauville are hugely important for all athletes competing. See dedicated Paralympic Games hub here for detailed information: www.fei.org/fei/games/paralympic/rio-2016.

By Rob Howell

FEI European Para-Dressage Championships Media Contact:

Aliénor de La Rochefoucauld
alienor@anchor-equestrian.fr
+33 (0) 1 44 38 80 22
+33 (0) 6 62 15 54 15

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

*Featured/Spotlights, Championships, Competitions, Dressage, Events, FEI, FEI, Para-Equestrian

Freestyle Gold Medals Bring British Haul to a Magnificent Eight

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Denmark's Stinna Kaastrup and Labbenhus Snovs added Freestyle Grade Ib gold to Team and Individual silver at the FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2011 at Moorsele, Belgium yesterday. Photo: FEI/Liz Gregg.

Moorsele (BEL), 5 September 2011 – With the Team and three Individual titles already under their belt, the British brought their gold medal haul to a magnificent eight when adding victory in Freestyle Grades Ia, II, III and IV to their tally on the final afternoon of the FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships 2011 at Moorsele in Belgium yesterday.  Only Denmark’s Stinna Kaastrup prevented them from making it a complete whitewash in the closing stages of the event that produced fantastic competition and presented many new stars of the future.

It was one of the stalwarts of the sport who took the first Freestyle title on offer in Grade Ia when British veteran, Anne Dunham, claimed top of the podium after a test with the ever-reliable Teddy that earned her a personal best score of 79.200.  “He was just brilliant!” Dunham said of the horse that also helped her take team and individual honours.  Freestyle Silver went to British team-mate Emma Sheardon with Purdy’s Dream on a score of 74.100 while Sweden’s Anita Johnsson and Donar took bronze with 73.950, heading a strong challenge from Helen Kearney who became the first-ever Irish rider to claim a medal at the FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships the previous day. The 22 year old competitor, who hails from Dunlavin in County Wicklow and who only began riding three years ago, took Individual bronze in Grade Ia, and Irish Chef d’Equipe, Naomi Donoghue, said afterwards, “It was a tremendous day for Helen and the Irish Para Equestrian squad.  We have achieved our first European medal and I firmly believe there will be many more to come.”

CONVINCING MARGIN
Kaastrup won Freestyle Grade Ib by a convincing margin, pinning Austria’s Pepo Puch (Good Boy’s Feeling) into silver medal position ahead of Finland’s Katja Karjalainen (Rosie) in bronze.  The 17 year old Danish rider, double bronze and silver Freestyle medallist at last year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, lives on Fyn, the third-largest of Denmark’s islands, and she trains intensively with the help of coach Lotte Straarup.  She began riding as a therapeutic pursuit and learned to really enjoy it with her first pony, whom she said, “was very nice, but a bit big!”

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*Featured/Spotlights, Championships, Competitions, Dressage, Events, FEI, FEI, Para-Equestrian

Great Britain’s All-Female Quintet Exceeds All Expectations

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Moorsele (BEL), 3 September 2011 – Britain proved today that they still have the edge and remain the team to beat when it comes to Para-Equestrian Dressage. Indeed, as Britain’s first all-female quintet scooped team gold and 5 of the 15 available medals in the individual test, with three of the grades won by a British rider, there was little doubt left that they are in a league of their own.

Anne Dunham, Great Britain’s most experienced Para-Equestrian Dressage rider who has participated in every Para-Equestrian Dressage event of the Paralmypics since it was introduced on the programme in 1996, went on to win her 15th and 16th gold medals at a Championship (Paralympic, World and European), while new member to the British squad, Natasha Baker, convincingly took gold in Grade II. At just 21 years of age, Natasha is a passionate and determined professional, with four horses on the go and plans for Rio 2016. She has been on a gold medal spree since the beginning of the year, with gold at the national Championships in June, followed by more gold in Hartpury in July and then a spot on the British squad for the Europeans here in Moorsele. She has her sights clearly set one of the few spots on the British squad for 2012, but will be up against some tough competition.

“It’s been a thrilling year for Great Britain to have achieved the success that we have in both Dressage and Para-Equestrian Dressage. We have exceeded all expectations and now have to focus on getting ready for 2012, both in terms of preparing our athletes and also preparing to host the world’s best equestrians,” said Amanda Bond, Chief Executive of British Dressage, following today’s prize giving ceremony.

Continue reading Great Britain’s All-Female Quintet Exceeds All Expectations →

Championships, Competitions, Dressage, Events, FEI, FEI, Para-Equestrian

High Expectations as FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships Get Underway in Moorsele

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Lausanne (SUI), 2 September 2011 – The FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships, held under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium, got underway yesterday in Moorsele with 79 riders from 19 countries set to compete at the Club Quadrille in Belgium.

Great Britain have been the Para-Equestrian Dressage power-house of recent times and are current Paralympic, World and European title holders, but with recent announcements that both nine-time Paralympic gold medallist Lee Pearson and Beijing silver medallist Ricky Balshaw will not be competing due to injuries, Germany and Denmark will be looking to shift the traditional British domination of the sport.

“Due to the absence of Pearson and Balshaw, outsiders Germany, who finished second at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, and Denmark, who came in third, have a golden opportunity to finally take the European title,” said Quadrille’s founder and Belgian Dressage Champion from 1977 until 1982, Anne D’Ieteren who is also the current President of the Belgian Paralympic Committee and member of the FEI Para-Equestrian Committee since 2010.

Belgium also has a strong team. “Bert Vermeir, bronze medallist in Athens 2004, should be considered a serious candidate for the Grade III medals, despite having suffered a severe injury in Deauville four months ago. Tthe same applies for José Lorquet in his come-back in Grade Ib. And I hope Ciska Vermeulen, one of our rough Belgian diamonds, will wow in her first European Championships,” added d’Ieteren.

Continue reading High Expectations as FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships Get Underway in Moorsele →