2015 FEI European Jumping Championships for Children, Juniors and Young Riders

Riders from five different nations claimed gold at the FEI European Jumping Championships for Children, Juniors and Young Riders 2015 which drew to a close at Wiener Neustadt in Austria yesterday. Germany scooped both the Junior and Children’s team titles while Belgium topped the Young Riders team event.

Sweden’s Ebba Larsson was crowned individual Young Rider champion, Camille Conde Ferreira took Junior Individual gold for France and Ireland’s Jennifer Kuehnle stood on the top step of the podium in the Children’s individual Championship.

Young Riders
The Belgians were untouchable for the Young Riders team title when Jonas Vervoort and his 10-year-old gelding Delight 50 were the only ones to fault in either round, making a single mistake each time out for the discard. Michael van den Bosch (Atilja), Boy-Adrian van Gelderen (B Cool) and Pieter Clemens (Quality ll) all jumped clear. Clemens, who was on the silver medal winning team at the FEI Junior European Jumping Championships at Ebreichsdorf in Austria three years ago, is a cousin of the Philippaerts twins, Nicola and Olivier, who compete in the Belgian senior squad. The generational theme was prominent once again at this year’s fixture, with many of the young competitors following in the footsteps of close, and extended, family.

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Germany, Ireland and Great Britain, all lying second with eight faults on the board, were left to battle it out in a third-round jump-off for silver and bronze. And the medals were decided by the clock in the end, when all three nations stayed clear. Germany’s Kaya Luthi (Pret a Tour), Niklas Krieg (Carella), Guido Klatte (Qinghai) and Maurice Tebbel (Chacco’s Son) posted the fastest combined time of 110.83 to take the silver while the Ireland’s Eoin McMahon (Prophan), Michael G Duffy (Felix), Jonathan Gordon (Fellini) and Michael Duffy (Miss Untouchable) were two seconds adrift when clinching bronze. The British were also foot-perfect, but missed the podium by almost three seconds. Silver medallists Krieg and Tebbel were members of Germany’s gold medal winning Young Riders’ side last year.

A total of 14 nations fielded teams and 78 riders from 22 countries battled it out for the individual medals.

The Belgians had to settle for the minor placings in the individual championship in which Sweden’s Ebba Larsson and the KWPN gelding, Waterford, reigned supreme. Larsson, who will turn 20 next weekend, finished 11th in the first qualifier won by fellow-Swede Elina Petersson (Canasta Z), and then sixth in the second individual competition which also decided the team medals.

She was the only one to jump double-clear on the Swedish team that finished eighth, and when she produced yet another double-clear yesterday with her 12-year-old horse which is by Coolcorran Cool Diamond, the stallion ridden to great success by Irish Chef d’Equipe Robert Splaine, then she finished well ahead of Germany’s Kaya Luthi who took silver medal spot with Pret a Tour for the second year in a row and Guido Klatte who claimed bronze with Qinghai.

Juniors
The Germans had it all their own way in the Junior team championship however, winning outright with an eight-fault scoreline after the first two rounds. They shared the lead with the defending champions from Britain and Irish at the halfway stage on zero, but were obliged to add eight faults when Christoph Maack (Dyleen), Philip Houston (Kannella) and Leonie Kreig (Champerlo) all returned four-fault results second time out. Theresa Ripke’s double-clear with Calmado meant they could drop one of the single errors however, so with gold already in their grasp they watched from the sidelines as the Irish and British, each carrying 12 faults, battled it out for the other two sets of medals.

And the Irish rallied brilliantly, Philip Carey who picked up 20 faults over the first two rounds staying clear this time out with Belle Rock while Susan Fitzpatrick (Cavalino) and Anna Carway (Ajaccio) were also fault-free. Fourth-line rider, Cormac Hanley (Caracter), didn’t need to return to the ring and Carway was the only competitor to produce three clear rounds in the team event.

Pathfinder, Faye Adams (Zozo CL), made no mistake against the clock for Great Britain, but single errors from Harry Charles (Vivaldi du Dom), 16-year-old son of London 2012 Olympic team gold medallist Peter Charles, and from 2014 Children’s individual champion Robert Murphy (Del Fuego) added eight more to the British tally to leave them on 20 and with no reason for anchor rider and 2014 team gold medallist Millie Allen (Balou Star) to run, because the podium placings were already settled.

It was Camille Conde Ferreira, a member of the fifth-placed French side, who claimed the individual Junior title with Pirole de la Chatre. The 16-year-old, who won team gold and individual bronze in the Children’s Championship at Vejar de la Frontera, Spain in 2013, finished ninth on the opening day when Switzerland’s Emilie Paillot came out on top with Caja. Conde Ferreira then jumped double-clear in the team competition and yesterday won through despite a pole down in the closing stages. And British team members scooped both of the other two medals, Harry Charles snatching the silver ahead of Millie Allen in bronze.

Children
Riders carried their results from the first individual qualifier into the Children’s team event in which Germany won through once again ahead of Britain in silver and Poland in bronze.

Britain, Italy and France shared the lead when starting the team competition on a zero score, and the French looked really strong when adding nothing more to their scoreline at the end of the first round. Round two was limited to the top 10 of the 21 competing nations, and it was here that the French lost their grip when putting eight faults on the board.

Carrying just a single time fault, the Germans were lying in wait. Beeke Carstensen (Venetzia) – a member of the 2014 bronze medal winning German side – Hannes Ahlmann (Sunsalve) and Calvin Bockmann (Carvella Z) all went clear in the second round when Roth Britt’s four faults with Casablanca 84 was the drop-score and they finished on an unassailable single penalty point to take the gold. The British snatched silver when India Bussey (Westwinds Ego), Hallie Lunn (Brookwood Supersonic), Oliver Fletcher (Little Business) and Lottie Tutt (Babylon) completed with four faults and that left Poland and Italy to jump-off for bronze.

The Italians had collected one time-fault in the opening round of the team competition and then added four more, so they were on level pegging with the Polish side who stayed clear in both rounds of the team competition but had to carry five faults from first individual qualifier. And it was a clear-cut result, Dalia Lehmann (Quitoki), Wiktoria Glowacka (Aronia), Filip Lewicki (Codetia VDL) and Aleksandra Boklo (Dragon) collecting just four faults in the jump-off score while the Italians collected 12 to miss the podium.

Ireland’s Jennifer Kuehnle and Chaitanya 2 went into a four-way jump-off against Germany’s Carstensen, Bockmann and Piet Menke (Cesha Old) for the individual title. And the 13-year-old Irish girl showed the rest a clean pair of heels when posting a time of 34.07 seconds that pinned Bockmann into silver and Menke into bronze. Carstensen was unfortunately eliminated.

Both of the top two riders are multi-talented, also competing in the discipline of Eventing, and 14-year-old Bockmann has every reason to celebrate his summer as his Jumping silver medal comes just two weeks after he earned individual gold at the FEI European Eventings Championships 2015 in Malmo, Sweden.

Results
FEI European Jumping Championships for Children, Juniors and Young Riders 2015:
Young Rider Team Championship: GOLD – Belgium 0 faults: Delight 50 (Jonas Vervoort) 4/4, Atilja (Michael van den Bosch) 0/0, Be Cool (Boy-Adrian van Gelderen) 0/0, Quality ll (Pieter Clemens) 0/0; SILVER – Germany 8 faults/J-Off 0/110.83: Pret a Tout (Kaya Luthi) 0/4/4, Carella 5 (Niklas Krieg) 0/4/0, Qinghai (Guido Klatte) 0/4/0, Chacco’s Son (Maurice Tebbel) 0/0/0; BRONZE – Ireland 8 faults/J-Off 0/112.99: Prophan (Eoin McMahon) 4/16/0, Felix (Michael G Duffy) 0/8/0, Miss Untouchable (Michael Duffy) 0/0/0, Felini (Jonathan Gordon) 0/0/4.

Young Rider Individual Championship: GOLD – Waterford (Ebba Larsson) SWE 2.60; SILVER – Pret a Tout (Kaya Luthi) GER 6.10; BRONZE – Qinghai (Guido Klatte) GER 7.57.

Junior Team Championship: GOLD – Germany 8 faults: Dyleen (Christoph Maack) 0/4, Calmado (Theresa Ripke) 0/0, Kannella (Philip Houston (Kannella) 4/4, Champerlo (Leonie Krieg) 0/4; SILVER – Ireland 12 faults/J-Off 0/115.02; Belle Rock (Philip Carey) 4/16/0, Cavalino (Susan Fitzpatrick) 0/4/0, Ajaccio (Anna Carway) 0/0/0, Caracter (Cormac Hanley) 0/8/DNS; BRONZE – Great Britain 20 faults/J-Off 8/115.14; Zozo CL (Faye Adams) 0/4/0, Vivaldi du Dom (Harry Charles) 0/4/4, Del Fuego (Robert Murphy) 4/8/4, Balou Star (Millie Allen) 0/4/DNS.

Junior Individual Championship: GOLD – Pirole de la Chatre (Camille Conde Ferreira) FRA 6.94; SILVER – Vivaldi du Dom (Harry Charles) GBR 7.50; BRONZE – Balou Star (Millie Allen) GBR 9.67.

Children’s Team Championship: GOLD – Germany 1 fault: Venetzia (Beeke Carstensen) 0/0/0, Sunsalve (Hannes Ahlmann) 1,0/0, Casablanca 84 (Britt Roth) 15,0/4, Carvella Z (Calvin Bockmann) 0/0/0; SILVER – Great Britain 4 faults: Westwinds Ego (India Bussey) 0/8/0, Brookwood Supersonic (Hallie Lunn) 0/4/0, Little Business (Oliver Fletcher) 1,0,0, Babylon (Lottie tutt) 0/0/4: BRONZE – Poland 5 faults/J-Off 4/105.35: Quitoki (Dalia Lehmann) 0/0/0, Aronia (Wiktoria Glowacka) 1/08, Codetia VDL (Filip Lewicki) 4/4/0, Dragon (Aleksandra Bolko) 6/0/0.

Children’s Individual Championship: GOLD – Chaitanya 2 (Jennifer Kuehnle) IRL 0/0/0 34.07: SILVER – Carvella Z (Calvin Bockmann) 0/0/0 35.34: BRONZE – Cesha Old (Piet Menke) GER 0/0/0 37.08.