Tag Archives: FEI World Single Driving Championships

German Drivers Dominate FEI World Single Driving Championships at Piber, Austria

Dieter Lauterbach (FEI/Krisztina Horváth)

Piber (AUT), 8 August 2016 – After four days of top-level sport, which culminated in an exciting finale in the obstacle driving competition, Germany’s Dieter Lauterbach won the individual gold medal at the FEI World Single Driving Championships in Piber, Austria, ahead of Weronika Kwiatek from Poland and Dutch driver Saskia Siebers. The German team won the Nations competition, Poland took home the silver medal and Switzerland claimed bronze.

After the first horse inspection, 75 horses from 23 nations started in the dressage of the ninth edition of the FEI World Single Driving Championships at the Lipizzaner Stud Farm in Piber-Köflach, Austria.

The first half of the competitors’ field drove their dressage test in great weather in the sand arena in Piber and USA’s Suzy Stafford took the provisional lead after the first day with her Morgan horse Peace of Mind. She was beaten on the second day by 2014 bronze medallist Marlen Fallak from Germany, whose scored 0,64 points better with her horse Tessa FST.

Third place went to Luxemburg with Franz Schiltz driving his horse Frodo, who won the gold medal in the FEI World Championships for Young Driving Horses in 2015. It was bad luck though for title defender Wilbrord van den Broek from the Netherlands who was eliminated after dressage because of an old mouth injury on his 20-year-old horse Oscar.

The second dressage day was hampered with heavy rain showers and the competition was stopped for around two hours in the afternoon to allow the arena to dry sufficiently for the remaining three drivers to complete their tests.

Polish family affair in the marathon

Due to the heavy rain on Friday, it was decided on Saturday morning to remove one obstacle from the competition; however, the marathon in the hills around Piber was still very challenging and demanded a good condition from the horses, especially when the sun came out during the day.

Weronika Kwiatek won the marathon with her 12-year old Hessen gelding Bartnik ahead of her brother Bartlomiej, with World Championship debutant Stefan Ulrich from Switzerland driving his Pamino U to the third place. The 18-year-old Ulrich was assisted on the carriage by his father, international successful four-in-hand driver Werner Ulrich.

Dieter Lauterbach finished fourth, which took him into the lead in the individual standings. His advantage over Weronika Kwiatek, however, was only 0,2 penalty points with the other competitors all lying very close to each other, which meant nothing was certain at this stage in the competition and all was set for an exciting finale.

At this stage, Germany was leading in the nations competition with a 5 points advantage over Poland and France, but with Switzerland also close behind.
The USA’s Suzy Stafford, in second position after dressage, was unfortunately eliminated in obstacle three after she took a wrong gate.

Grande finale

The cones course, designed by World Championship course designer Gábor Fintha from Hungary, was challenging but achievable, which was demonstrated by the nine clear rounds and resulted in a wonderful end of the Championship, which took place in near to perfect conditions.

World Championship debutant Saskia Siebers drove a clear round to take bronze. Winning the bronze medal came as a complete surprise for her: “This was my first World Championship as a competitor and I did not know what to expect. I had hoped for a top-ten placing, but this is fantastic!”

Marathon winner Weronika Kwiatek collected time penalties in the obstacle driving competition, but this did not endanger her silver medal: “I won the marathon here last year and again this year. The heavy terrain suits my horse Bartnik, he has a very good condition and a lot of power.”

Dieter Lauterbach won the golden medal, with no knockdowns and only a little over one penalty point for exceeding the time allowed: “This has been a wonderful event with fair sport and a great atmosphere. I have won already several medals, but to win individual gold is yet again something special.”

In the nations competition the Germans were unbeatable as well this time and in the end they had a comfortable advantage to Poland. Switzerland won bronze with just a 0,41 penalty point advantage over France.

Piber will go into the history books as a very successful World Championship, which offered an excellent venue for driving sport at the highest level.

Full results available here

Individual results FEI World Single Driving Championship Piber 2016:

  1. Dieter Lauterbach (GER) 137,50
  2. Weronika Kwiatek (POL) 139,68
  3. Saskia Siebers (NED) 141,36

Team results FEI World Single Driving Championship Piber 2016:

  1. Germany 270,39
  2. Poland 281,65
  3. Switzerland 283,70

Re-watch the action on the FEI YouTube Channel.

By Cindy Timmer

FEI Media Contacts:

Shannon Gibbons
Manager Press Relations
shannon.gibbons@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 46

Leanne Williams
Manager Press Relations
leanne.williams@fei.org
+41 79 314 24 38

Gold for Wilbrord van den Broek and Germany

Wilbrord van den Broek (NED) won individual gold at the FEI World Single Driving Championships 2014 in Izsák (HUN). (Claudia Spitz/FEI)

Lausanne (SUI), 29 September 2014 – After four exciting days with seventy-seven drivers from 24 nations at the eighth FEI World Single Driving Championships in Izsák (HUN) at the weekend, Dutch driver Wilbrord van den Broek won individual gold and Germany took team gold for the third time in a row.

Hats off

Four-time Dutch champion Wilbrord van den Broek won the Dressage phase with 18-year-old Oscar, which was first driven by Wilbrord’s father Jan van den Broek who won the Dressage phase of the 2008 World Championships before going on to win individual gold.

Frenchman Renaud Vinck finished second in Dressage with the 10-year-old Hannoverian gelding Don Camillo, with Austrian Rudolf Pirhofer and the 19-year-old warmblood gelding Baritello taking third.

All eyes were on the German driver Claudia Lauterbach, whose hat was blown off during her Dressage test and landed on the centre line. The question was would she drive over it, and she did, which landed her in tenth place.

France took the team lead ahead of Germany and Poland after Dressage, with twenty-four pairs finishing the phase with under 50 penalties, underlining the stellar performances.

Demanding marathon

The marathon phase was very demanding due to the A-section, which included deep sand that required a lot of power from the horses.

The 21-year-old American driver Jacob Arnold, voted USEF Junior Equestrian of the Year in 2011, won the marathon with his Morgan Hotspurs Red Rowl, and set the fastest times in four of the eight marathon obstacles.

Wenche Johannesen (NOR) finished second with Engkildergårds Rts Saturn, owned by Norwegian para driver Liv Ryen Kristiansen, and the experienced German driver Dieter Lauterbach came third with 9-year-old Hessen gelding Dirigent.

The competition was close again in the marathon, with Renaud Vinck ultimately taking the lead in the individual standings after finishing in 11th place with just over a one point advantage on Wilbrord van den Broek and less than two points on Weronika Kwiatek (POL).

In the team competition, Germany jumped one point ahead of France with Norway working their way up to third, thanks to the strong performances of Wenche Johannesen and Oivind Mikkelsen. Switzerland and Poland followed closely, with The Netherlands in sixth.

First Championships

The experienced Hungarian 4-star Course Designer Gábor Fintha created a fantastic, technical cones course on which seven drivers put down double clears.

The 33-year-old Claudia Lauterbach, married to German Youth Driving Trainer Dieter Lauterbach, jumped from sixth in the standings to win the cones phase and claim individual silver at her very first World Championships. Her compatriot, 35-year-old Marlen Fallak, veterinary assistant by profession and also at her first World Championships, moved up from fifth with a clear round and just one penalty point for exceeding the time allowed, to score bronze.

The 44-year-old Wilbrord van den Broek, who won individual bronze two years ago, drove an amazing double clear to claim his first individual gold.

The Germans remained unbeaten once again and took home team gold for the third consecutive FEI World Single Driving Championships. Frenchman Renaud Vinck, who was on track for individual gold but had an unfortunate knock down and time penalties putting him in fourth, helped to score France’s silver, and Switzerland was able to move up to bronze thanks to three rounds without knockdowns and only a few time penalties.

Quotes:

Wilbrord van den Broek (NED): “It was a spectacular and well organized World Championship. My horse Oscar won the individual silver medal with my father in Astorp 2004 and they won gold in Jarantow 2008. I started driving him in 2010. We won bronze in Lezirias 2012 and now gold; he is just an amazing horse! He still is super fit and if he looks well in spring, I will continue to compete with him next season. He is not ready for retirement yet.”

Claudia Lauterbach (GER): “We had a great team and we all helped each other; it was amazing. The World Championships were well organized and the marathon obstacles were really nice.”

Marlen Fallak (GER): “This is just an indescribable feeling. I am very pleased and the Dressage went very well for us. My horse did a fantastic job.”

By Cindy Timmer

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

FEI World Singles Driving Championships 2010 – Final Day

From left to right: Bartolomiej Kwiatek (POL)-silver, Thorsten Zarembowicz (GER)- gold and Cristiano Cividini (ITA) – bronze. (c) Hippoevent

DOUBLE GOLD FOR GERMAN SINGLE DRIVERS

Pratoni del Vivaro (ITA), 1 August 2010 – After a nerve-wracking obstacle driving competition at the FEI World Single Driving Championships in Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy, Germany took home both individual and team gold. Thorsten Zarembowicz is the new World Champion. Poland’s Bartolomiej Kwiatek took the silver and Italy’s Cristiano Cividini won the bronze medal.

World Championship course designer Christian Iseli is known for his challenging obstacle driving courses, and at Pratoni he built another selective course, sticking to his motto ‘Not easy, but Iseli!’  The course, which was underestimated by most of the drivers, consisted of many sharp turns and the tight time frame made it difficult, but nevertheless do-able.

Continue reading FEI World Singles Driving Championships 2010 – Final Day

FEI World Single Driving Championships Return to Pratoni

70-year-old Jan van den Broek (NED) will defend his World title in Pratoni. (c) Hippoevent

The FEI World Single Driving Championships return to Pratoni del Vivaro (ITA) from 28 July to 1 August. Pratoni hosted the Single Horse Driving Championships very successfully in 2006 and the Italian Equestrian Federation is now welcoming the competitors on their site for the sixth edition of these Championships.

It was just 12 years ago that the first official FEI Single Championships took place at Ebbs (AUT). The next Championship was due to take place in 2000 in Gladstone (USA), but was cancelled at the last minute because of the West Nile Virus. The Championship made a return to the FEI calendar in 2002 in the picturesque village of Conty (FRA), which organises an international driving event every year. Conty will also host the 2011 FEI World Pair Driving Championships.

As one of the world’s leading single driving nations, Sweden had the honour to host the 2004 World Single Championships, followed by Pratoni in 2006 and Jarantów (POL) in 2008.

Continue reading FEI World Single Driving Championships Return to Pratoni