Germany won the penultimate leg of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping Europe Division 1 series at Hickstead, Great Britain this afternoon. But it is still uncertain whether the most formidable of Jumping nations will make the cut for the inaugural Final in Barcelona, Spain in September. With just one qualifying leg remaining, in Dublin, Ireland in seven days time, it is still very much hanging in the balance.
The German victory today was clear and concise as, not for the first time in his career, anchorman Ludger Beerbaum was surplus to requirements in the second round because his sister-in-law, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, and team-mates Hans-Dieter Dreher and Marcus Ehning had already clinched it. Finishing on a four-fault score, the winning side had an eight-fault advantage over the French and US teams who shared runner-up spot, while the Irish were only fractionally further adrift in fourth when registering a 13-fault total.
It was a disappointing day for the British who, a year after their spectacular team glory on home turf at the London 2012 Olympic Games, had to settle for fifth place along with Ukraine when both sides racked up 17 faults apiece. It wasn’t a great day for the Dutch either, who slotted into seventh when putting 20 faults on the board, while Switzerland lined up last of the eight competing nations with 32 faults.