The Canadian Vaulting Team reached new heights at the FEI Vaulting World Championships for Juniors, held July 24-28, 2019, in Ermelo, NED.
The all-Albertan team, made up of Cassidy Johannesson of Rocky Mountain House, Talmage Conrad of Lethbridge, Dallyn Shields of Didsbury, and Averill Saunders of Sundre, rose to the challenge of competing abroad on borrowed horses with professionalism and unquenchable team spirit.
Conrad earned Canada’s first-ever top-10 placing at the event vaulting on Klaus Haidacher’s 15-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Don Zeno (Dressage Royal x Zeus (Nurzeus)), lunged by Nicole Voithofer (AUT). The 17-year-old claimed seventh overall in the Junior Male Division on a final score of 7.009 over two rounds of competition, the first of which included a compulsory and free test, while the second round featured a technical test and second free test performance. Conrad’s highest marks of the competition came in round two’s free test on July 28, where he scored 7.826 for third.
The Junior Male Individual gold medal went to Jannik Liersch (GER) on Elegante 42 with lunger, Alexander Hartl, on a score of 8.003. Sven Ris of Switzerland took home the silver on Acardi Van De Kapel, lunged by Monika Winkler-Bischofberger (7.848), and Germany also captured bronze with Julian Kogl scoring 7.607 on Daytona, lunged by Lars Hansen.
In the Junior Female Individual division, Saunders, 15, finished 19th in a record placing for Canada in the division. She earned her top-20 spot with Amontillado 9 (Acodetto 2 x Lord), an 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by RVC Gilching e.V. and lunged by Jessica Bentzen of Parksville, BC, by placing ninth in the compulsory on July 24 (7.492) and 39th in the free test the next day (6.701) for composite score of 7.097.
“It means everything to me to be representing Canada on the world stage, I’m just so incredibly proud of us for making advances in the sport,” said Saunders. “I truly believe that one day Canada could be on the podium and that would be such a proud moment for the Canadian vaulting community. A really special moment for me was running in for my compulsory round; I got to the side of the ring and felt so much love for the sport, my horse, my country and, of course, my lunger, Jess.”
Next on the Junior Female Individual leaderboard for Canada was 17-year-old Shields, who was one the first athletes in Canadian vaulting history to compete at the World Junior Vaulting Championships in 2017 alongside Johannesson and Charlotte Axani of Cochrane, AB. Shields returned to the Championships with Margaret Morgan’s 10-year-old bay, Jay’s Fortitude, and lunger Rebecca Hewit of Great Britain, to improve on her 2017 placing of 31st and jump ten spots to 21st in 2019. She scored 6.827 in the compulsory and 7.253 in the free test to end round one on a score of 7.040.
Johannesson, 18, was also partnered with Jay’s Fortitude and Hewit, and completed the first round in 46th place. Her total score of 6.440 was due in large part to an emotional free test that earned a score of 6.916. Johannesson explained, “My freestyle is about crossing the line between life and death. I had a very close friend pass away last year in an accident and I really wanted to do a kind of tribute. I wanted to do something that I could really feel.”
The top 15 Junior Female Individual athletes then moved onto Round 2, after which Mona Pavetic of Germany captured gold, scoring 8.402 on Eyecatcher, lunged by Alexandra Knauf. Switzerland followed in the silver and bronze medal positions with Danielle Burgi (8.382) and Samira Garius, both of whom vaulted on Livanto Cha CH, lunged by Mirjam Degiorgi.
For more information and full results from the 2019 FEI Vaulting World Championships for Juniors, click here.
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