 |
Federation
Equestre Internationale News
Second
World Cup victory for Freund
|
World
Cup Champion Michael Freund has won the FEI World Cup Driving
event in Stockholm. After he won the World Cup event in Stuttgart
last weekend he drove superb again in the Globen arena in Stockholm.
He won the warm up competition and was therefore last to go in
the World Cup. OI had seen that all the other competitors made
mistakes, so I took it easy,¹ explains the 49-year old driver
from Germany. Freund is now half way through his World Cup season
and in the lead of the standings. He is ready to renew his World
Cup title, but he knows that he will have to fight for it in Vigo.
His
Global Team partner Boyd Exell has lend the Cob team again from
Britain¹s four-in-hand driver Fred Pendlebury. With this
team he came second in the 2002/2003 World Cup season. OThe team
was bit slower than last year, but they will improve as soon as
they have done another show. I am ready to fight Freund again
in Vigo,¹ says Exell. The drivers will compete in two World
Cup events in Vigo because Bordeaux cancelled the World Cup Driving.
Wild card driver Nicke Pålsson drove a clean round but dropped
the ball of the last gate when his reins got notched up. Gert
Schrijvers from Belgium took his outdoor team of Arabo Friesian
sport horses to Stockholm but was
not very satisfied with his fourth place: OMy right wheeler horse
missed the strength and caused two balls to fall. I will probably
replace him with a Belgian Warmblood horse. The warmblood still
needs a bit more training, it will be ready for Mechelen. I have
new Arabo Friesian horses at home, but they are too young to compete.¹
IJsbrand Chardon put together a special indoor team and was successful
in the warm up round (second place). He drove faster than Freund
in the World Cup competition, but he knocked three balls down
and, taking a short cut through one of the marathon obstacles,
he hit the elements and dropped to the fifth place. Tomas Eriksson¹s
team missed the indoor routine and knocked several cones down.
He also lost precious time when one of his wheeler horses jumped
over the lead bar after he crossed the bridge, causing a groom
to dismount.
The
course consisted of ten gates, which made it a true racecourse,
not very much to the like of the drivers. The bridge however produced
the ever-popular fireworks as soon as the drivers had crossed
it and made the 12.000 spectators enjoy the show very much.
The
next World Cup competition takes place in Mechelen, Belgium, on
27 December 2003.
Created
in 2001, the Driving World Cup has provided an innovative new
style of competition for indoor events, with courses combining
marathon and cone driving obstacles. The 2003/2004 season of the
World Cup includes seven events with eight competitions: Stuttgart
(GER), Stockholm (SWE), Mechelen (BEL) in 2003; Leipzig (GER),
two competitions in Vigo (ESP), 's-Hertogenbosch (NED) and Göteborg
(SWE) in 2004.
The
winner of the first two editions of the World Cup was Michael
Freund (GER).
Stockholm
Horse Show: www.stockholmhorseshow.com
World Cup Driving: www.worldcupdriving.com
FEI: www.horsesport.org
www.horsesport.org
.
