"I had so much fun today" Ingrid Klimke and Horseware Hale Bob
It was a dramatic start to cross country day at the FEI European Championships when Oliver Townend, the third rider out, Team GB trailblazer and certainly one we would have put money on making it around the course, had a run out at Fence 4c and Fence 8b.
This were fences that all of the riders had been talking about and it caused plenty of problems with 16 riders picking up penalties at The Longines Complex at Fence 4, including the overnight leader Bettina Hoy (4b) and Thomas Carlile (4c)
Neither rider made it around the course with Bettina and Seigneur Medicott having a fall at Fence 10 while Tom had further problems at 8b and 13a which saw them walking home. Julia Krajewski, the first team rider for Germany also had a problem at 8b and suddenly Germany’s record result after the dressage looked very vulnerable
Julia Krajewski
In second place after the dressage, the French riders too had their share of problems with Sidney Dufresne and Tresor Mail picking up a refusal at 4c and Sidney being not very happy with the course as a whole. With the elimination of Tom Carlile and later Gwendolin Fer, Team France was out of the game whereas strong performances from all four Swedish team riders saw them move into the bronze medal winning position on a score of 128.50
Sara Algotsson Ostholt and Reality 36
Sara Algotsson Ostholt and Reality 36, fifth after the dressage also moved into the bronze medal winning position individually after a great ride late in the day, picking up just 0.8 time penalties to finish on 35
Whereas the early riders had some slippery conditions to deal with, this was less of a problem for those riding later in the day and Sara’s concern was more that some of the landings were on the firm side
But it was the individual performances of two great riders that kept the German team in the hunt despite the elimination of Bettina and Julia picking up 20 penalties. Both Ingrid Klimke on Horseware Hale Bob and Michael Jung on fischerRocana came home with double clear rounds, putting them into gold and silver medal winning positions on 30.30 and 32.80
Ingrid set out fast and had to remind ‘Bobby’ to stay with her a couple of times, especially through Fence 4 which she had walked with her old coach, Chris Bartle
“He knows the horse so well so I ‘borrowed’ him from the British just for to walk this one and Fence 12!”
Michael rode a beautiful round but he was very aware of the importance of putting in a good performance for Germany following the loss of Bettina (which he eloquently described with a dead pan face in a BBC interview as being ‘very shit’!) and ensured that fischerRocana was completely on the ball at a couple of fences and they cruised home, easily making the time
