Germany’s Nicolai Aldinger was victorious in the CCI4*-S class of the first leg of the Strzegom Summer Tour in Poland with the 12-year-old Hanoverian grey gelding Newell but there was good news for the home side with Polish riders in the top three of all other classes.
The Strzegom Summer Tour was the first international eventing show in Poland after the Covid-19 break, putting on the first 4-star competition in Europe although Germany has been holding events with classes up to CCI3* recently. Strzegom, the venue for the 2017 FEI European Eventing Senior Championships, hosted over 140 horses from 13 countries with athletes competing in four short format classes.
The German rider was not initially the favourite in the CCI4*-S class, in fourth place after the dressage and two poles in the show jumping dropping him down into the sixth, but a clear round on cross-country, and the only one inside the time, secured him the win.
The next two places went to riders from the Netherlands; Jordy Wilken with Burry Spirit in second and Raf Kooremans with Dimitri N.O.P taking third. Mateusz Kiempa with Lassban Radovix, the leader after show jumping, and the only one with a clear round, added time faults in the cross country to finish fourth.
The top three spots in the 3-Star class went to the ladies with the Netherlands’ Merel Blom riding Ceda N.O.P taking the win, having led from the start while second place went to Heike Jahncke from Germany riding Coco Spring, who moved up from 18th place after dressage thanks to clear show jumping and cross-country rounds. Paulina Maciejewska with Jangcy L was in a similar situation, placing 25th after dressage but moving up to third place after a flawless jumping and cross country.
The 2-star class was the most popular one, with 64 horses competing. The winner was Mateusz Kiempa riding Libertina, who took the lead after dressage, kept it in the jumping and, despite a few time faults on cross-country course, took first place ahead of Kai Steffen-Meier (GER) with Charming Ciaco and Marta Dziak-Gierlicz (POL) in third.
Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier riding Oda won won the 1-star Intro class, rounding out the international flavour
The Strzegom Summer Tour continues from the 16th - 19th of July.
4* winner Nicolai Aldinger riding Newell Photo by: Leszek Wójcik
