France’s Marion Vignaud was provisionally in first place at the end of the marathon at the 2024 edition of the FEI Single Horse World Driving Championship, but she dropped the final ball in the cones, handing individual gold to Switzerland’s Mario Gandolfo and settling for silver. It’s the first time that individual gold has gone to a Swiss driver (Michael Barbey, a member of the Swiss team this weekend, won silver in 2012 in Lezirias/POR). Another Swiss driver, Stefan Ulrich, took third place.
FEI Singles ranking world number one, Canada’s Kelly Bruder, placed 16th driving Flip, her 16-year-old Oldenburg gelding. They led the opening dressage phase with an incredible score of 40.65. then dropped to 58th place after racking up 120.52 penalties in the marathon. They rebounded well in the cones with just .82 penalties to move back up the leaderboard.
Kelly Bruder and Flip.
In the team competition, France succeeded in retaining the title they won two years ago at the Haras National du Pin, ahead of Germany, who have not been on the podium since 2016, who took team silver, 0.9 points ahead of Switzerland, who took bronze.
Felix-Marie Brasseur, French chef d’equipe, remarked, “A team gold medal is the most sensational thing for the Federation. It’s the job of the Fédération Française d’Equitation to help the riders as much as possible to achieve this goal. The best way to thank them is to be out in front and win. The drivers did that and that’s great. Marion let the gold medal slip through her fingers on the last [cone] of the manoeuvres. It would have been better to take a bit of time and go to the end because she had the lead. But it’s understandable that you can’t relax in the atmosphere. What’s also really nice is that all the drivers produced their best dressage, their best marathon and their best handling, and that’s the most important thing.”
For the first time ever, Canada fielded a team in this championships: Kelly Bruder, Catherine Levasseur and Carole Precious were 4th after dressage but slipped to 15th overall following the marathon and cones phase.
This fourth world championship in a row organised by the Orléans site was a success both in sporting terms and for the public, who turned out in force on Saturday to watch a spectacular marathon. The Pôle International de Sports Equestres is now one of the most renowned equestrian complexes in the world, particularly for driving. In 2025 it will host the International Driving Competition (July 3-6) and the World Driving Championships for singles, pairs and teams of ponies (September 17-21).
Individual results HERE and team results HERE.
~ with files from Haras National du Pin