News from Luhmühlen

Today was the concluding day of the Longines FEI Eventing European Championships which was exciting right to the very end. Ingrid Klimke (GER) stayed clear with SAP Hale Bob OLD in the final show jumping phase and moved in front of team colleague Michael Jung, who had an unfortunate fault with fischerChipmunk FRH winning Silver. With another fantastic clear round, the Irish rider Cathal Daniels and Rioghan Rua moved up into Bronze Medal position. The Team medals went to Germany, Great Britain and Sweden.

The show jumping was exciting till the very last horse. Spectators were not disappointed on this final day of the European Championships, as the 54 competitors really delivered nail biting performances here in Luhmühlen. With the reversed starting order tension was rising, which by the end was sending chills down everybody’s spines as the medal order kept changing until the very last horse. 
 
In the end it was Ingrid Klimke who kept her cool and produced a spectacular clear round with SAP Hale Bob OLD, repeating her success from Strzegom two years ago. They stayed on their dressage score of 22.90 points and moved up ahead of Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH, who had a very unfortunate mistake on 10B, which cost them the Gold medal. “I am unbelievably happy and thankful to have had my show-jumping coach Kurt Gravemeier here with me today. Warming up with him, gave me confidence for the show jumping. Bobby jumped brilliantly and I still can’t believe we did it again.” 
 
Michael Jung was disappointed about the fault which cost him the Gold medal: “Of course I am a little annoyed about the fault. However, I am very happy about Chipmunk’s performance all week here in Luhmühlen. He was fit and jumped great, which makes me look forward to the future with this wonderful horse.” 
 
In third place and winning Bronze is the just 22-year-old Irish rider Cathal Daniels with Rioghan Rua.  He was in 13th place after dressage and worked his way up the ranks with a clear round inside the time in yesterday’s cross-country as well as riding a super clear round today. They too stayed on their dressage score of 29.0 points: “I am so happy with the way my horse performed here in Luhmühlen. The atmosphere was electric today and I am proud I could win the medal for my team.” After the overall great performance of all four German Team riders, Ingrid Klimke, Michael Jung, Andreas Dibowski and Kai Rüder, they extended their lead even further in today’s show jumping. They won with a score of 82.50 points ahead of Great Britain (104.80) and Sweden (105.10). Here too, it was exciting till the very end when France lost their chance for Bronze allowing Sweden to move up into third place. Furthermore, Sweden secured their place for the Olympic Games in Tokyo next year alongside Italy, who came fifth today. 
 
Ahead of the show jumping, all competing horses needed to pass the vet check earlier today, which unfortunately meant French Team rider Alexis Goury had to withdraw his horse Trompe l’Oeil d’Emery after he was sent to the holding box. This reduced the French Team to only three riders, putting them into a slightly more difficult position before the show jumping having to add Karim Florent LAGHOUAG score to the team result.  
 
Overall 44.000 spectators throughout the week, cheered the competitors and created a worthy platform for the eventing sport here in Luhmühlen. 

Today’s Longines FEI Eventing European Championship cross-country went extremely well for the leading German riders Michael Jung and Ingrid Klimke who remain in first and second place. Both stayed on their dressage scores of 20.90 and 22.20. Thibaut Valette (FRA) moved into third after his clear round with Qing du Briot ENE HN and the unfortunate fall of Laura Collett, who took a dip at the third water jump. 

Today’s leader Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH couldn’t have wished for a better cross-country day, finishing clear and inside the time. “Chipmunk is such a fantastic horse. It felt so good to ride him round the course. I was able to go for all the direct routes, whilst he galloped fresh around the track, leaving us up on the clock all the way. I am so grateful to the fischer-Group for giving me such a brilliant ride!” Ingrid Klimke (GER) and SAP Hale Bob OLD too remained clear and within the time keeping them in second place after today’s crosscountry: “I wanted to ride a round just as good as Michi’s and I think, with the help of the fantastic crowd here in Luhmühlen, me and Bobby succeeded. We are such a solid team, making it easy to simply enjoy every bit of it.” 
 
On this beautiful sunny day with thousands of spectators, German Team rider and pathfinder Andreas Dibowski (GER) went clear with just 0.80 time penalties round the track earlier this morning. Dibo and his mare FRH Corrida produced a good, solid round laying the foundations for many more great performances throughout the day: “She gave me a fantastic ride round a superbly designed course. All questions were challenging, but rode extremely well.” Andreas and FRH Corrida are currently in 22nd place with 35.40 points. Kai Rüder, fourth German team rider, also produced a clear round but added a few annoying time penalties to his dressage score after some issues at the start. He slipped down to 36th place with 41.80 points. Currently in third place is French rider Thibaut Vallette and Qing du Briot ENE HN, who went round today’s cross-country clear and inside the optimum time: “My horse was wonderful, I am so happy. I could ride all direct lines of this very challenging course which was perfect for my horse.” 
 
After the fantastic team performance of all German Team riders (78.50), they now have an advantage of 14.30 points over Britain (92.80) and France (93.60) going into tomorrow’s show jumping. British riders Oliver Townend and Piggy French also produced clear rounds inside the time, which kept the British Team in second place. However, they only have a tiny advantage over France, who are just 0.80 points behind the Brits.  
 
The 5.800m long course designed by Mike Etherington-Smith, turned out to be a worthy championship track, challenging horses and riders but which rode really well. “I want to congratulate teams and riders. We saw world class riding today. The riders made some very good decisions. I am surprised that so many got the time but the conditions were good and the ground was perfect”, said Mike. 
 
The 59 remaining competitors will have to present their horses for a final vet check tomorrow at 9:00am ahead of the show jumping class which will be on at 11:15am.

Livestream:
Luhmühlen will be streamed by FEI TV.  

The Longines FEI Eventing European Championships concluded its dressage phase today. Michael Jung (GER) and fischerChipmunk FRH moved into first with a fantastic score of 20.90 points, closely followed by Ingrid Klimke (GER) with SAP Hale Bob OLD on 22.20 and Laura Collett (GBR) in third with London 52 (25.50). 

Michael Jung couldn’t have wished for a better start to the European Championship. A glorious 10 at the beginning and end of his dressage test put him and fischerChipmunk FRH in the lead before tomorrow’s cross-country: “I am delighted with Chipmunk’s performance today. He is a fantastic and very intelligent horse, which has been carefully produced. He was slightly nervous to begin with but settled quickly into the test. We had a slight hick-up in the walk but was otherwise superb. The cross-country course is going to be fantastic. It has been built beautifully, however, the time will be crucial and should not be underestimated. Riding too fast might cause run-outs, so concentration throughout is going to be needed. There are many interesting but very clear questions, making this a fabulous championship course.” With just 1.30 points behind Jung is the reigning European Champion Ingrid Klimke (GER), who couldn’t have been happier with her gelding’s performance today: “Bobby was proud as a Spaniard coming into the arena where the atmosphere has been fantastic today. He was perfectly relaxed, which made riding the test so easy.” The two German Team riders are followed by yesterday’s overnight leader and British team rider Laura Collett with London 52 on her score of 25.50. 
 
The strong team effort from Germany was completed by Kai Rüder (25.80) with Colani Sunrise, who is currently in fourth position. The superb dressage result of 68.90 points provides the German Team with a comfortable advantage over the other teams for tomorrow’s cross-country. The British Team is currently in second place (85.70), hoping for fast clear rounds in order to secure their position for a medal. They are closely followed by Belgium with 90.90 points in third. 
 
Martin Plewa, President Ground Jury said, “the cross-country course is, according to all riders and officials, a true championship track. The many different and challenging questions are placed evenly across the course, all fair and inviting with plenty of alternative options.”  
 
The first pair riding the course designed by Mike Etherington-Smith will be starting at 10am tomorrow morning.

Today’s thoughts on the cross-country course 
Karin Donckers: “It’s a beautiful course as always in Luhmühlen. The ground is perfect and the questions are challenging but fair and clear. Should anything not go according to plan, then there is always an option for plan B or C.” 

Chris Bartle: “This is a challenging championship course with many technical questions to answer. Time is going to be a deciding factor too as riders will have to choose direct routes to be in with a chance to stay within the optimum time whilst staying absolutely focused to avoid unexpected run-outs.” 
 
Josefa Sommer: “I am really looking forward to tomorrow. I have a very safe cross-country horse and all questions are very clear, which is why I plan to ride direct routes at least for now.” 
 
Kristina Cook: “The way the fences are situated it is very easy to make mistakes. It’s going to be a proper gold medal winning performance if you manage to go round clear and stay within the optimum time tomorrow. You have to be very open-minded – there are so many options. You can’t predict now which option you are going to go for, you have to be flexible as a rider.” 
 
Sandra Auffarth: “I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s cross-country. The course looks awesome. It’s definitely challenging but the questions are fair and clear.” 
 
Tim Lips: “The cross-country course is very cleverly built. I think Mike Etherington-Smith wanted to make sure we concentrate all the way round. You need to read the course really well.” 
 
Oliver Townend: “The course is beautifully designed and built. I am a great fan of Mike Etherington-Smith’s courses. There are no blind questions. If you are on your line and you and your horse are focused on the job it should ride well.” 
 

Livestream:
Luhmühlen will be streamed by FEI TV.