 |
Federation
Equestre Internationale News
FEI
World Cup Jumping
Victory
At Verona For Nieberg, But Lansink Now Challenges For World
Cup Series Lead.......
|
Germany’s
Lars Nieberg stood on the winners podium at the third leg of the
FEI World Cup series in Verona today after a perfectly-measured
victory with Loreana earned him the maximum 20 points.
However
Belgium’s Jos Lansink, who slotted into third place with
a double-clear from AK Caridor Z, is now stalking league leader
Eric Van der Vleuten as he lies just one point behind on the leaderboard.
Van
der Vleuten did not travel to Verona so this left the door wide
open, particularly for Robert Smith who had been lying in second
position, but despite excellent results for the British rider
during the early stages of the Italian fixture he failed to capitalise
on his win in Oslo when lowering two fences in the opening round
today with Marius Claudius.
Course-designer
Olaf Petersen set them a tough first-round test, and the line
from fences four to six proved consistently difficult. Many of
the horses disliked the look of the half-moon wall at fence four
and stood off it, consequently struggling to make the distances
to the next two fences.
"After
the wall it was a short four strides to an oxer, then three long
strides to an upright and it was hard to get – also the final
line of the triple combination to the last fence was difficult"
Lars said. "Many horses made a mistake at the middle element
of the combination and met the final oxer wrong but my mare was
good in both rounds" added the 40 year old rider who lives
near Frankfurt and who was a member of the Olympic gold medal
winning teams in both Sydney and Atlanta.
Just
six riders went through to the jump-off and Jos Lansink led the
way with a careful clear to set the target in 46.65 seconds. Reynald
Angot then followed for France with Dollar de la Pierre, shaving
almost seven seconds of that when returning clear in 39.09 seconds.
America’s
Peter Wylde and Lauriston had two fences down at their second
attempt while Germany’s Marco Kutscher and Montender made
just a single mistake but Lars Nieberg and Loreana never touched
a pole as they galloped home in 37.47 seconds to snatch the lead.
"Reynald
had been very fast and I knew that Rodrigo was following me so
I had to be very quick" Lars said afterwards. Few riders
like to be followed into the ring by Rodrigo Pessoa but the 14
year old Baloubet du Rouet, winner of Friday’s Preliminary
competition, left two fences on the floor and the Brazilian ace
had to settle for fifth place ahead of Wylde while Kutscher slotted
into fourth, Lansink into third and Angot took runner-up position.
"I’m
very pleased with Loreana" Lars said after earning 27,770
Euro for his success on the day.
"She
is a 13 year old mare, very experienced, formerly owned by Achas
Von Buchwald and I have her now for five months – she is
a great addition to my string. And I am very happy with my result
today. This is my first World Cup competition of the season –
I intend to go now to Berlin, Geneva and then to London –
so this was the best possible start!" he added.
The
Verona result brings some significant changes to the FEI World
Cup leaderboard as Lars slots into fifth position behind Robert
Smith who has dropped to fourth. Marco Kutscher earned 13 additional
points to promote himself from equal-10th up to third position
while Jos Lansink is now just one point behind Eric Van der Vleuten
with a total of 32 points to date.
The
action now moves to Berlin next weekend, and Lars is hoping to
consolidate his position with another good performance on his
home ground.
For
information on Berlin, venue for the fourth leg of the 2003/2004
FEI World Cup Jumping series, you can Email: bcm@bcm.nl or visit
website: www.reitturnier-chi-berlin.de. Show Secretary is Caroline
Wauters and she can be contacted on Email: c.wauters@bcm.nl and
Press Officer is Denise van der Net – Email: d.van.der.net@bcm.nl.
RESULT:
1, Loreana (Lars Nieberg) Ger 0/0 37.47; 2, Dollar de la Pierre
(Reynald Angot) Fra 0/0; 3, AK Caridor Z (Jos Lansink) Bel 0/0
46.65; 4, Montender (Marco Kutscher) Ger 0/4 38.72; 5, Baloubet
du Rouet (Rodrigo Pessoa) Bra 0/8 38.80; 6, Lauriston (Peter Wylde)
USA 0/8 40.02; Equal 7, Non Plus Ultra (Antonis Petris) Gre 4,
Jamiro (Rolf Goran Bengtsson) Swe 4, Clinton (Dirk Demeersman)
Bel 4, Arko (Nick Skelton) GB 4, Albin 111 (Juan Carlos Garcia)
Ita 4, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) Ger 4, Dobel’s
Cento (Otto Becker) Ger 4, De Sjiem (Jeroen Dubbeldam) Hol 4,
Pro Pilot 11 (Edouard Couperie) Fra 4, Camirez B (Toni Hassmann)
Ger 4.
THE
TOP-TEN ON THE LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 3 AT VERONA:
Eric
Van der Vleuten – 33
Jos Lansink – 32
Marco Kutscher – 25
Robert Smith – 21
Lars Nieberg – 20
Jeroen Dubbeldam - 19
Malin Baryard – 18
Eq. 8. Helena Weinberg / Reynald Angot – 17
Eq. 10. Richard Davenport / Bruno Broucqsault – 15.
2003/2004
FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING SERIES - CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
1,
Helsinki - 19 October; 2, Oslo - 26 October; 3, Verona - 9 November;
4, Berlin - 16 November; 5, Geneva - 7 December; 6, Olympia, London
- 21 December; 7, Mechelen - 30 December; 8, Leipzig - 25 January;
9, Amsterdam - 1 February; 10, Bordeaux - 7 February; 11, Vigo
- 14 February; 12, Paris - 6 March; 13, s'Hertogenbosch - 28 March;
14, Gothenburg - 11 April. Final in Milan - 21-25 April.
FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE THIRD LEG OF THE FEI WORLD CUP SERIES
IN VERONA CONTACT:
Website:
www.fieracavalli.com.
BIOGRAPHIES
on riders competing in the FEI World Cup series are available
at http://bios.horsesport.org.
YOU
CAN DOWNLOAD THE NEWLY REVISED RULES for the World Cup for Jumping
Riders from FEI website: www.horsesport.org.
FEI
World Cup jumping has entered its 26th year. The series, created
in 1978, today comprises 12 leagues on all continents. The best
riders from over 100 World Cup preliminary competitions will qualify
for the Final in Milan (ITA) from 21 to 25 April 2004. The title-holder
is Markus Ehning (GER). The Federation Equestre Internationale
(FEI), founded in 1921, is
the international body governing equestrian sport recognised by
the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and includes 130 National
Federations.
Equestrian
sport has been on the Olympic programme since 1912 with three
disciplines - Jumping, Dressage and Eventing. It is one of the
very few sports in which men and women compete on equal terms.
It is also the only sport which involves two athletes - horse
and rider - and the FEI has relentlessly concerned itself with
the welfare of the horse.
www.horsesport.org
.
