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Federation
Equestre Internationale News
FEI
Eventing World Cup News
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The
2004 FEI Eventing World Cup season is at its height and three
very different yet equally exciting qualifiers took place over
the last fortnight in Moscow (RUS), Luhmühlen (GER) and Strzegom
(POL).
MOSCOW ESTABLISHES ITSELF ON THE INTERNATIONAL EVENTING CALENDAR
The
Olympic training base Planernaya hosted the Moscow FEI Eventing
World Cup qualifier for the 2nd time from 17 to 20 June. Thirteen
riders representing Russia, Ukraine and Belarus began and nine
finished the event.
Pavel
Sergeev of Russia and the 11-year old gelding Polus were 2nd after
Dressage with 59.35 penalty points. Thanks to a bold Cross Country
which they literally flew over loudly cheered by supporters and
despite an average Jumping round where they collected 11 penalties
(2 rails down and a 3 time penalties), the pair came in first
with a final result of 99.15 points. This result is a progress
for both horse and rider who were 4th in last year's FEI Eventing
World Cup leg in Moscow.
Runner
up position was taken by fellow Russian Adrey Grishin on the 10-year
old gelding Skampolo with 118.50 points. Ukraine's Vitaly Stytsko
on Argument placed 3rd with 130.19 points.
Riders
from that part of the world have been virtually absent form international
Eventing for the last decade, but thanks to the unremitting efforts
of the Russian equestrian community strongly supported by the
government of the city of Moscow, better days lie ahead. In response
to the country's commitment, the FEI has included Russian Eventing
in its development educational and training programmes. As a result,
the World Cup Cross Country track was entirely rebuilt by Cross
Designer Roland Alexander to match international standards with
the financial assistance of the FEI Development Fund. A larger
scope project including, apart from Russia,
Eastern European countries such as Ukraine, Belarus and Bulgaria,
coordinated by Andrew Griffiths, FEI development officer in Eastern
Europe, is currently being put into place. The goal is to technically
upgrade existing competitions and allow riders from these countries
to qualify at home for international events, such as European
Championships, avoiding costly travel abroad. New talents will
then be making their entry to the international Eventing scene.
NERVE-RACKING FIGHT IN LUHMÜHLEN
Australia's
world class rider Andrew Hoy riding the 12-year old gelding Mr
Pracatan won the much disputed FEI Eventing World cup qualifier
held at Luhmühlen (GER) from 17 to 20 June. A 39,50-penalty
Dressage score placed the pair in 8th position, in a tie with
Great Britain's Zara Phillips on Springleaze Marcaroo and well
behind Linda Algotsson of Sweden, winner of the 2003 FEI Eventing
World Cup Final, on Stand by Me 4 (35.90). In front of some 12,000
enthusiastic fans, Linda took the lead after a faultless Cross
Country, followed by Zara Phillips and Hoy. The final result then
lay with the Jumping test. With a clear round, Hoy clearly became
the winner. Hoy's performance is all the more remarkable given
that he also placed 6th on Yeoman's Point with 48 points. With
120 points, he is now 2nd in the FEI Eventing World Cup standings
only 3 points behind the leader Darren Chiacchia (USA) with 123
points and 2 points ahead of Matthew Grayling (NZL) with 118 points.
With
one rail down, Linda Algotsson took runner-up position finishing
with 39.90 points, only 0.40 points behind the winner. An incredibly
speedy Jumping round (70.87s. with time allowed of 88s.) cost
Zara Philips three fences finally putting her in 7th place (51.50
points).
Dirk
Schrade, 26, of Germany, who performed the event's best Cross
Country finishing only 0:01 second before the optimum time of
7:54, placed 3rd on Sindy 43 with a final score of 41.70 penalties.
He is followed by Bettina Hoy on Ringwood Cockatoo, also with
41.70 (3.20 time penalties in the Cross Country.
The
full results are available on the event's website
http://www.luhmuehlen.de (direct link
http://www.luhmuehlen.de/anhaenge/216/erges010.pdf).
The
outstanding organisation of the event should be noted. "Luhmühlen
is a place with a special atmosphere for us all," Andrew
Hoy commented. "Everything here is done for the good of riders
and horses."
BRILLIANT GERMAN TRIO WIN AT STRZEGOM
Germany's
Andreas Dibowski riding one of his two potential Olympic horses,
the 13-year old gelding Little Lemon B, came in first at the FEI
Eventing World Cup qualifier held at Strzegom, South-western Poland
from 24 to 27 June. His final result was of 60.8 penalty points,
10.1 points ahead of runner-up fellow countryman Bernd Knorr.
Dibowski, who also became the event's best rider, began with a
convincing Dressage score of 46.6 penalty points (68.92%). He
moved on to first place after a clear Cross Country scoring 11.2
penalties for exceeding the optimum time by 28 seconds (optimum
time 7m 36s.), which he kept thanks to a clear Jumping round (3
time
penalties). This result combined with his performance at Luhmühlen
places him in fourth place in the FEI Eventing World Cup standings
with 114 points.
Bernd
Knorr on Chrischona was only 17th after Dressage with 56.1 penalty
points (62.61%), but thanks to his excellent Cross Country (5.6
penalties for exceeding the optimum time), he moved to runner-up
position which he kept despite the 9 penalties in the Jumping
test. Nicole Grimm on Gandus was 3rd with a final result of 72,9
points and is closely followed by Sweden's Linda Algotsson on
My Fair Lady in 4th position with 74.5 points and Katrin Norling
on Cacao Af Tollstad, 5th with 75.7
points.
German
Cross Country Course Designer Christian Zehe was closely assisted
by Marcin Konarski, very experienced international rider and organiser
of the event. Their compact track proved rather trying allowing
no clear rounds within the time. "It is a very fair 3-star
cross," Dibowski said, "requiring some riding. The ground's
slight natural unevenness has been cleverly used and I am sure
more than one rider was surprised." Virtually all refusals
occurred at narrow box type fences requiring accuracy and placed
on a slightly curving line.
A
special tribute should be paid to the organisers for a putting
on a perfect event.
The
full results are available on
http://www.voltahorse.pl/articles.php?id=254
After ten qualifiers the leaderbord of the FEI Eventing World
Cup is as
follows:
1.
Darren Chiacchia (USA) - 123
2. Andrew Hoy (AUS) - 120
3. Matthew Grayling (NZL) - 118
4. Andreas Dibowski (GER) - 114
5. Phillip Dutton (AUS) - 110
6. Andrzej Pasek (POL) - 101
7. Sonja Johnson (AUS) - 100
7. Robyn Fisher (USA) - 100
7. R. de Gouveia Jr. (BRA) - 100
7. Pippa Funnell (GBR) - 100
7. Pavel Sergeev (RUS) - 100
12. Linda Algotsson (SWE) - 90
13. Emma Mason (AUS) - 60
13. Sergio Henrique Marins (BRA) - 60
13. M. Duroy De Laurière (FRA) - 60
13. Bernd Knorr (GER) - 60
13. Andrew Nicholson (NZL) - 60
13. Craig Nicolai (NZL) - 60
13. Anna Collier (USA) - 60
13. Andrey Grishin (RUS) - 60
The
full standings are available on the FEI's website www.horsesport.org
(section consult/results/eventing)
(direct link
http://www.horsesport.org/fei/pdfs/consult/02_03/C_04_st_WC.pdf)
The
next FEI Eventing World Cup qualifier will take place in Malmö
(SWE)
from 16 to 18 July.
***
The FEI Eventing World Cup is the sport's first linked series
consisting of 17 qualifiers culminating in a yearly Final. It
is organised at the highest level (three-star) of the short Eventing
format which is the new standard for Championships and the Olympic
Games. The series is designed in manner to encourage the participation
of the world's best riders and horses and thus promote such emblematic
values of Eventing, as the constant quest for harmony between
physical skills and mental balance, contact with nature, precision,
stamina, agility and insightful training. The FEI Eventing World
Cup is a showcase of a sport resolutely turning to the future.
www.horsesport.org
.
