While the sun shone with all its might in the Mannheim sky, the arena, where action of the 2007 FEI European Jumping Championship began today, was no less bright. Indeed, Christa Jung, the first woman to design a European Championship course, had filled it with dazzling reds and blues to go with the gigantic yellow sunflowers decorating fence 7 set in the middle of the arena.
After a first and very exciting competition, in which the leader kept changing until the very end, Switzerland’s Christina Liebherr on L.B. No Mercy scored the fastest time (67s18) and is in the lead. Home nation all time favourite Ludger Beerbaum on Goldfever was 2s21 slower and with 1.11 penalties lies in second. Twenty-five year old Stefan Eder of Austria riding Cartier PSG is third (1.12 penalties – time 69s42).
“I’m very pleased with today’s result. That’s what I had aimed at all the way,” Christina Liebherr said. “I took some risks but that’s what you have to do, otherwise you won’t win.” She is lucky to have a very fast horse in No Mercy, so fast that he can actually be uncontrollable at times. “But Jumping is in the head and we pulled it out today,” Christina declared. She suffered a bad fall and was concussed at Aachen. To overcome that, she has done some mental preparation using special training techniques and this is clearly paying off today.
Ludger Beerbaum was also understandably pleased and hopeful to remain at the top. His 16-year old stallion Goldfever, who was almost on his to semi-retirement earlier this year, is in a surprisingly good shape. He was very convincing in the Grand Prix of CSI 5* Cannes and then at Aachen and after Ludger’s other top horse Couleur Rubin, who was originally to compete at Manneheim had been taken ill with thrombosis, a rare condition for horses, Goldfever was back in the arena.
The news of the day is the third place of Stefan Eder who was himself surprised to be in such a prominent position. He sees, however, his mission to be team-oriented as Austria is seeking qualification for next year’s Olympic Games.
Despite a scary start, Germany is first in the team competition (total score 5.18), followed by Switzerland (7.13) and The Netherlands. It was Aachen 2006 all over again for Marcus Ehning’s ride Noltes Küchengirl who had two refusals at the blue dolphin-shaped brick wall and was eliminated from today’s competition. However, the German team were able to pull together and secure a very promising beginning.
The 13-obstacle, 16-jumping effort course, which opened on an interesting curvy line with a four-metre wide water jump at fence three, was unusual in that it offered no less than three different options (at fences 4; 7a-b and 8; and 11a-b). This required good planning from the riders as, in a speed competition like today’s, shorter routes were obviously to be preferred but they lead to more difficult lines and any mistake costs expensively indeed. Another challenge came from the mixed field: it had to properly test the world’s best riders while allowing those who are less experienced to also compete safely.
Individual Standings
1 77 L.B. NO MERCY Christina LIEBHERR (SUI) Hans Liebherr 13000 67.18
2 54 GOLDFEVER Ludger BEERBAUM (GER) Madeleine Winter-Schulze 10000 69.39
3 26 CARTIER PSG Stefan EDER (AUT) Peter Schildknecht 8000 69.42
4 124 SHUTTERFLY Meredith MICHAELS-BEERBAUM (GER) Octavia Farms LLC, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum 6000 70.25
5 31 CASTLE FORBES LIBERTINA Jessica KüRTEN (IRL) Georgina Lady Forbes, C.Longford 5000 70.37 (4)
6 21 CABRI D’ELLE Paola AMILIBIA PUIG (ESP) S. Neill 4000 70.51
7 15 AUDI’S ALPAPILLON-ARMANIE Vincent VOORN (NED) Berkhof Paarden BV,C.vd Linden,A. Lis 3000 71.19
8 19 BMC UP AND DOWN Jeroen DUBBELDAM (NED) Stal de Sjiem 2500 71.65
9 32 AL-KAHEEL CAVALOR CUMANO Jos LANSINK (BEL) Jean Verlinden 2000 72.01
10 42 CöSTER Christian AHLMANN (GER) Marion Jauss 500 72.24
Team Standings
1 GERMANY 5.18
Chef d’Equipe: Kurt GRAVEMEIER
5 NOLTES KÜCHENGIRL - BAY Marcus EHNING (44.76)
42 CÖSTER - HOLST Christian AHLMANN 2.53
124 SHUTTERFLY - HANN Meredith MICHAELS-BEERBAUM 1.54
54 GOLDFEVER - HANN Ludger BEERBAUM 1.11
2 SWITZERLAND 7.13
Chef d’Equipe: Rolf GRASS
96 NOBLESS M - HOLST Pius SCHWIZER 2.98
49 CANTUS - BAWUE Niklaus SCHURTENBERGER 4.15
106 PLOT BLUE - KWPN Werner MUFF (4.38)
77 L.B. NO MERCY - KWPN Christina LIEBHERR 0
3 NETHERLANDS 7.37
Chef d’Equipe: Rob EHRENS
15 AUDI´S ALPAPILLON-ARMANIE - NRPS Vincent VOORN 2.01
19 BMC UP AND DOWN - BWP Jeroen DUBBELDAM 2.24
99 OKIDOKI - KWPN Albert ZOER (7.08)
47 EUROCOMMERCE BERLIN - HOLST Gerco SCHRÖDER 3.12
4 GREAT BRITAIN 9.43
Chef d’Equipe: Derek RICKETTS
103 PILGRIM II - WESTF David MCPHERSON 3.05
84 LOCARNO - HOLST Ellen WHITAKER 3.49
102 PEPPERMILL - KWPN John WHITAKER (4.98)
109 SUNCAL PORTOFINO - KWPN Michael WHITAKER 2.89
5 SPAIN 9.69
Chef d’Equipe: Marco FUSTE
112 JULIA DES BRUMES - SF Ricardo JURADO (7.32)
21 CABRI D´ELLE - SF Paola AMILIBIA PUIG 1.67
92 MME POMPADOUR - - Gonzalo TESTA ORNAT 2.93
79 LE REVE DU NABAB - SF Sergio ALVAREZ MOYA 5.09
6 BELGIUM 11.45
Chef d’Equipe: Lucien SOMERS
129 VIGO D ARSOUILLES - BWP Philippe LE JEUNE 4.84
56 GRANDE DAME Z - OLDBG Judy-Ann MELCHIOR 4.19
123 SHERRY MURY MARAIS Z - ZANG Patrick MC ENTEE (9.47)
32 AL-KAHEEL CAVALOR CUMANO - HOLST Jos LANSINK 2.42
7 IRELAND 11.68
Chef d’Equipe: Robert SPLAINE
6 S.I.E.C. HIPPICA KERMAN - HOLST Cameron HANLEY 7.32
64 HERITAGE TRANSMISSION - - Marion HUGHES (9.35)
44 IRISH INDEPENDENT ECHO BEACH - ISH Cian O´CONNOR 2.76
31 CASTLE FORBES LIBERTINA - WESTF Jessica KÜRTEN 1.6
8 UKRAINE 12.96
Chef d’Equipe: Philippe GUERDAT
87 LORIOT - HOLST Björn NAGEL 6.41
101 OSTA RUGS QUINTUS - BWP Jean Claude VAN GEENBERGHE (10.09)
86 LORD SPEZI - OLDBG Katharina OFFEL 3.89
75 LANTINUS - HANN Gregory WATHELET 2.66
9 SWEDEN 13.65
Chef d’Equipe: Maria GRETZER
22 CALIBRA II - ISH Lotta SCHULTZ 6.22
90 MADICK - SWB Helena LUNDBÄCK 2.55
71 ISAAC - SWB Royne ZETTERMAN 4.88
95 NINJA LA SILLA - KWPN Rolf-Göran BENGTSSON (12.71)
10 AUSTRIA 14.03
Chef d’Equipe: Gabriele MORBITZER
121 11TH BLEEKER - WESTF Gerfried PUCK 5.75
3 E & W ARMANI - OLDBG Roland ENGLBRECHT 7.16
26 CARTIER PSG - HOLST Stefan EDER 1.12
85 LOOPING - KWPN Jürgen KRACKOW (12.5)
11 FRANCE 15.07
Chef d’Equipe: Gilles Bertran DE BALANDA
74 KRAQUE BOOM*BOIS MARGOT - SF Kevin STAUT 4.47
73 ITOT DU CHÂTEAU - SF Michel HÉCART 5.1
50 FIRST DE LAUNAY*HN - SF Florian ANGOT (5.76)
69 IONESCO DE BREKKA - SF Olivier GUILLON 5.5
12 NORWAY 16.26
Chef d’Equipe: Sylce SÖDERSTRAND
24 LE BEAU - HOLST Stein ENDRESEN (7.19)
1 BESSEMEINDS CASINO - HOLST Morten DJUPVIK 3.55
82 L´ESPOIR - ZANG Geir GULLIKSEN 5.57
23 CAMIRO - HOLST Tony André HANSEN 7.14
13 ITALY 16.53
Chef d’Equipe: Roberto ARIOLDI
2 DA ZARA PORTO RICO - KWPN Piergiorgio BUCCI 6.66
14 ATHLETICA - HANN Giulia MARTINENGO MARQUET (8.94)
61 HARPON DU BORDA - SF Chiara ARRIGHETTI 3.42
127 TORONTO VAN DE PADENBORRE - BWP Juan Carlos GARCIA 6.45
14 DENMARK 19.97
Chef d’Equipe: Achaz VON BUCHWALDT
41 CORDIVO - HOLST Linnea ERICSSON (12.02)
59 GRIM ST. CLAIR - SF Thomas VELIN 8.04
36 CON AIR - HOLST Lars Bak ANDERSEN 8.82
25 CAROLA - DWB Tina LUND 3.11
15 RUSSIAN FEDERATION 26.88
Chef d’Equipe: Vladimir TISHKIN
29 CASIO - HOLST Vladimir TUGANOV 8.34
114 RADETZKY - - Dimitry BERESTOV 8.87
35 COMMON SENSE - HOLST Mikhail SAFRONOV 9.67
68 ILLION KILEN - - Ljubov KOCHETOVA (12.88)
16 ROMANIA 50
Chef d’Equipe: Adrian GASPAR
130 WOJAN - HANN Norbert SCHUMAN 17.95
65 HORSE GYM´S CHAMPAGNE - HOLST Radu ILIOI 16.33
43 DUENDE - WESTF Aurel COJOCARIU 15.72
0 - -
17 BULGARIA 59.21
Chef d’Equipe: Vasil FRATEV
110 POWERFEE - KWPN Samantha MC INTOSH 3.83
104 PINA COLADA - KWPN Ivelin VALEV 10.62
16 BALOUFINO - OLDBG Angel NYAGOLOV 44.76
0 - -
18 POLAND 67.75
Chef d’Equipe: Zbigniew KACZOVONSKI
18 BISCHOF L - HOLST Andrzej LEMANSKI 5.15
30 CASTELLO - HOLST Aleksandra LUSINA 17.84
119 RITUS - HANN Lukasz JONCZYK 44.76
0 - -
The 2007 FEI European Championship continues tomorrow with the first round of the Nations Cup in which all 82 competitors will be taking part.
The Rules
Today’s competition was conducted over a big Table A course and judged under Table C at a speed of 400 m per minute. The scores obtained by each competitor were converted into points by multiplying the time of each competitor by the coefficient 0.50. The competitor with the lowest number of points after this conversion (Christina Liebherr) was given zero penalties, the other competitors being credited with the number of penalties representing the difference in points between each of them and the leading competitor. If a competitor is eliminated (e.g. Marcus Ehning today), he/she was awarded the same number of penalties as that incurred by the competitor who was the most severely penalised, plus 20 penalties. Adding the 20 penalties was done after the time difference had been converted into penalties.
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