In a competition filled with drama, Finland snatched the honours at the opening leg of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping Europe Division 2 series at Linz in Austria.
Drawn neck-and-neck at the halfway stage of the competition, and still battling it out going into the closing stages, it seemed that either the host nation or Australia would claim the top step of the podium. But in the end it was the sheer consistency of the Finnish side, underpinned by the only double-clear of the competition from the anchor partnership of Anna-Julia Kontio and the elegant grey, Fardon, that determined who would earn those coveted maximum points.
Austria had to settle for runner-up spot in the final analysis ahead of Australia in third while Italy finished fourth ahead of Slovakia, Germany and Russia who all divided fifth place.
12 nations
A total of 12 nations lined out today, with eight teams returning in the second round. And it was very much to the credit of the Slovakian side that, with just three team members, they made the cut. Only five countries were chasing points towards the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping Final 2014 and they were Austria, Italy, Finland, Poland, Hungary and Russia.
The course presented by Austria’s Franz Madl was fair but testing, and fences fell all around the big all-weather arena. The snaking line from the triple combination at fence three to the following white vertical at four and the red wall at fence five demanded accurate steering, and the oxer at fence six fell repeatedly when horses and riders appeared to focus too early on the next obstacle on the track, the triple combination.
The time-allowed of 80 seconds proved extremely influential, and in the second round many riders chose to turn inside the final vertical at fence 12 on approach to the vertical at fence 8 in order to pick up some valuable fractions of seconds. The Longines oxer at fence 9 was followed by a double – vertical to oxer – at fence 10 which led to the penultimate fence, the open water which in the main was not problematic although it did produce some exciting moments. Many riders had to take a check on the right-hand turn toward the final vertical, and with time so crucial this regularly put them under time pressure.
Halfway stage
Bulgaria, Lithuania, Hungary and the Czech Republic were already relegated to the sidelines at the halfway stage, while the Austrians and Australians jointly headed the leaderboard going into round two carrying just two faults apiece. Italy was next with four, while the Finns were carrying six and had just a single-fault advantage over the Russians.
Germany had already racked up nine faults, hampered by the elimination of third-line rider Marc Bettinger for a fall with Quannan-R who straddled the third element of the triple combination first time out. Lying seventh as round two began was the plucky Slovakian side with 12 on the board while Poland squeezed into eighth place with 18 faults after their first excursion into the arena.
Round 2
With a further 24, Poland wouldn’t improve from there in round two, while the Russians plummeted down the leaderboard when Olga Chechina and Lascar, who had collected just two time-faults at their first attempt, collected 14 this time out and anchorman, Vladimir Beletskiy, decided to retire with Littlefoot for the second time today.
Bettinger’s score of 20 was the German discard second time out so when their last man in, Max Kuhner, added 12 to their tally then they completed on the same finishing score of 25 faults as their Russian counterparts.
But when the Slovakians finished on level-pegging with these two sides then Marian Stangel (Badarco), Andrej Holly (Cento) and Bronislav Chudyba (Concano) had plenty of reason to be pleased, having between them picked up just 12 faults in the first round and 13 in the second.
Poised
With just four faults at the halfway point, the Italians were poised to pressurise the two leading teams in the second round, but Luca Moneta’s Neptune Brecourt showed nothing like his usual form today when adding 12 more to the four faults they posted first time out. Despite a second-round clear from Francesco Franco (Banca Popolare Bari Cassandra), the Italians had to add the eight picked up by Filippo Moyersoen (Loro Piana Canada) when their anchor, Lorenzo da Luca (Zoe) was eliminated and that left them just a single fault ahead of the three nations that eventually shared fifth place.
The Finns however stood firm, bolstered by an opening clear from Maiju Mallat and Armani the Gun as round two got underway. Although Sebastian Numminen’s 8-year-old Cue Channa lowered the triple bar at fence three and the first element of the double at 10, they could discount that when Satu Liukkonen collected just five with the feisty mare Celestine and Kontio completed her second foot-perfect tour of the ring with Fardon
Their finishing score of 11 kept looking better and better when the Australians stumbled badly.
Restored their equilibrium
Jamie Kermond’s 21-fault second-round effort with Colthaga was always likely to be the Austrialian discount, but William James Passy restored their equilibrium with a fabulous clear from Yirrkala Cortina. And when Alison Rowland left just the vertical at fence eight on the floor with Bickley Brook Bella then it seemed more than possible that they could complete on a final score of 6 because last to go were James Paterson-Robinson and Vincente who had been foot-perfect at their first attempt. Three fences on the floor this time out all had to be counted however and suddenly the picture had changed dramatically.
If the last of the Austrians, Stefan Eder, could go clear then the host nation would be forced into a jump-off with Finland because that would negate one of the five-fault results posted by by Christian Juza (Never des Etisses) and Nina Brand (Calme P). Stefanie Bistan and the impressive Bogegaardens Apollonia had followed their first-round clear with just a single mistake at the triple bar at fence three for four faults.
But the home crowd groaned loudly when Eder’s Lualdi kicked out the first element of the triple combination, and with no point in continuing the Austrian rider retired. It was all over, and the Finns were the ones basking in all the glory.
However they had to admit afterwards that success was somewhat unexpected.
Surprise
“We were hoping to finish in the top three so first place was definitely a surprise!” said Kontio afterwards. But she said she was absolutely ready to go into a jump-off if that was necessary. The 23-year-old rider, who works with Thomas Fuchs in Switzerland, has been riding Fardon for a year now and has been recording some impressive results including strong placings in the Grand Prix at Munich (GER) last year and at Zurich (SUI) in 2014. Asked if she felt pressurised as anchor rider for her team, Kontio replied, “No! I always ask to go as last rider because the pressure suits me!” She enjoyed an excellent day today, having already already won a class before the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping competition got underway.
Team-mate, Satu Liukkonen, was equally thrilled with today’s team result. “This is my first time in Linz. It is amazing to be here as a first time rider and winning it – I can’t describe it!” she said, while Sebastian Numminen was well-pleased with the performance of his promising young horse.
Maiju Mallat said it was the perfect start for Finland in the 2014 Furusiyya series, and newly-appointed Chef d’Equipe, Herve Godignon, agreed with that. It was quite a debut for the former star of French Jumping.
“You can imagine my feeling, winning my first Nations Cup (as Chef d’Equipe) and I think it is the first one for Finland ever!” Godignon said. “The fact that I have only been working with the team for three months shows that they were ready even before I came! We are going to try to improve the riders and horses to bring them to the level of the World Equestrian Games” he explained.
He says he has big but realistic ambitions for his side. “We plan to have a Finnish team in France (Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Normandy) and do our best – we know the level of the WEG is more difficult than that competition today, so we aren’t going to get too enthusiastic just yet. We are going to take it show-by-show, keep going and not dream too much” he pointed out.
But it was clear as today came to a close that Finland can afford to dream pretty big for the months ahead.
Results
1. Finland 11 faults: Armani the Gun CH (Maiu Mallat) 1/0, Cue Channa 42 (Sebastian Numminen) 5/8, Celestine (Satu Liukkonen) 5/5, Fardon (Anna-Julia Kontio) 0/0.
2. Austria 16 faults: Bogegaardens Apollonia (Stefanie Bistan) 0/4, Never des Etisses (Christian Juza) 1/5, Calme P (Nina Brand) 6/5, Lualdi (Stefan Eder) 1/Ret.
3. Australia 18 faults: Colthaga (Jamie Kermond) 13/21, Yirrkala Cortina (William James Passy) 1.0, Bickley Brook Bella (Alison Rowland) 1/4, Vincente (James Paterson-Robinson) 0/12.
4. Italy 24 faults: Neptune Brecourt (Luca Maria Moneta) 4/12, Banca Popolare Bari Cassandra (Francesco Franco) 10/0, Loro Piana Canada (Filippo Moyersoen) 0/8, Zoe ll (Lorenzo de Luca) 0/Elim.
5. Slovakia 25 faults: Badarco (Marian Stangel) 2/5, Cento (Andrej Holly) 5/4, Concano (Bronislav Chudyba) 5/4.
5. Germany 25 faults: Carlson (Katrin Eckermann) 0/4, Celano (Rudiger Renner) 4/0, Quannan-R (Marc Bettinger) Wlim/20, Cornetta (Max Kuhner) 5/12.
5. Russia 25 faults: Kilar (Natalia Simonia) 1/4, Cosimo (Natalia Belova) 4/0, Lascar (Olga Chechina) 2/14, Littlefoot (Vladimir Beletskiy) Ret/Ret.
8. Poland 42 faults: Zarco (Lukasz Appel) 6/25, Osadkowski van Halen (Piotr Morsztyn) 4/4, Abigej (Marek Lewicki) 8/8, Crazy Quick (Jaroslaw Skrzyczynski) 8/12.
9. Cezch Republic 21 faults IN FIRST ROUND: Cento Lano (Ondrej Zvara) 10, Calata (Zdenek Hruska) 6, Bel Canto Hradiste (Kamil Papousek) 5, Zandiro (Ales Opatrny) Ret.
10. Hungary 26 faults IN FIRST ROUND: Lacapo (Emil Orban) 0, Zordon (Balazs Horvath) 17, Dr Oklund (Gyula Szuhal) 14, Landspiel (Sandor Szasz) 12.
11. Lithuania 40 faults IN FIRST ROUND: Aragorn (Andrius Petrovas) 9, Domien (Valdemaras Zukauskas) 10, Barichela (Kristupaas Petraitis) 21.
12. Bulgaria Eliminated IN FIRST ROUND: Mister Big (Ivaylo Bonev) Elim, Cartina (Angel Nyagolov) DNS, Capoccino (Rosen Raitchev) DNS.
Full result here
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