GERMANY WINS THROUGH IN EXCITING THREE-WAY SHOWDOWN by Louise Parkes
Hickstead (GBR), 29 July 2011 – Germany emerged victorious in a three-way jump-off against France and the USA at the sixth leg of the FEI Nations Cup 2011 at Hickstead (GBR) today. In a competition that produced big scores as the notoriously testing British track took its toll, it was Marcus Ehning who sealed the result with the only double-clear of the competition and the quickest run against the clock.
The French lined up second ahead of the Americans in third, but for the USA the danger has not gone away. Lying second-last on the series table going into today’s event, they failed to improve their position and must now head to Dublin, Ireland next week under even greater pressure. The Germans, meanwhile, have overtaken the Irish to move into second place on the leaderboard and lie just a comfortable five points off the leading Dutch who, however, didn’t enjoy their best afternoon when having to settle for joint-sixth alongside the struggling Irish in today’s competition. It was another rough day for the Danes whose fate appears to be sealed. They look relegation-bound in this, their debut season, having picked up just eight points from the six legs of the series to date. It will take something very special indeed to rectify that situation with just two competitions left to go.
HALFWAY STAGE
The Germans and French were joint-leaders at the halfway stage, carrying just four faults each. Olivier Guillon (Lord de Theize) and Roger-Yves Bost (Nifrane de Kreisker) contributed clears to the French cause while Penelope Leprevost (Topinambour) and Kevin Staut (Silvana de Hus) left just one fence on the floor. Meanwhile Germany’s Janne-Friederike (Cellagon Lambrasco) and Marcus Ehning (Plot Blue) were foot-perfect, thus ensuring Philipp Weishaupt’s single error was the only addition to their scoreline as Holger Wulschner’s (Cefalo) double-error was dropped.