Horses from teams in medal positions held at eventing World Championships final trot-up
We bring you the nervous moments from the eventing World Championships final trot-up, plus how withdrawals affect Olympic qualification
Three horses were held at the eventing World Championships final trot-up this morning (16 August) in Aachen.
The first nervous moment was for Switzerland, when anchorman Felix Vogg had to take Frieda to the holding box. The ground jury – Anne-Mette Binder of Denmark, Canada’s Peter Gray and Ireland’s Joanne Jarden – waved him through on re-inspection. This was a big relief for his squad as Switzerland currently hold the bronze position going into the showjumping. Felix sits 15th individually.
Then Julia Krajewski’s ride Uelzener’s Nickel was held for Germany, who lie in team silver. She is a counting score for the team, so it was a relief for the home side when she was passed on re-presentation. This pair were the dressage leaders and are currently in 20th place, having slipped down the order with time-faults yesterday.
Lastly, Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier had to take Kiarado D’Arville to the holding box, but he too passed on re-inspection. Belgium are currently 10th in the team standings and Lara is 34th individually.
Eventing World Championships final trot-up: withdrawals affect Olympic qualification
More significant than the holds are a number of overnight withdrawals, which juggle the team standings.
Nicolas Touzaint (38th overnight) was a late withdrawal before the trot-up, with Diabolo Menthe. That means the French team drop from sixth overnight to 11th.
This is particularly significant because the top seven teams here qualify for the 2028 Olympics, excluding the USA, who qualify automatically as hosts. On the current standings, the qualification places will go to Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, New Zealand and the Netherlands.
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Brazil, 11th overnight, are now 13th because Carlos Parro (58th after cross-country) has pulled out Safira and Austria drop from 13th to 14th following the withdrawal of Daniel Dunst with Chevalier 97 (64th overnight).
US individual Tamie Smith also withdrew Lillet 3 before the trot-up, having been 18th overnight.
The two Japanese horses who remained in the competition after cross-country – Vinci De La Vigna JRA (Kento Nagura, 62nd) and Feroza Nieuwmoed (Ryuzo Kitajima, 63rd) – were also both withdrawn. This means the Japanese team drop from 15th overnight to 16th.
Looking ahead to showjumping
The four remaining British horses all looked very well at the eventing World Championships final trot-up and progress to the final showjumping phase.
The showjumping starts at 1pm local time (noon in Britain). Pairs start in reverse order of the individual standings. The session for the top-25 begins at 3.30pm local time (2.30pm British time).
The Brits all jump in this last session – individual Caroline Harris (D. Day) is 14th overnight, with team members Tom McEwen (JL Dublin), Laura Collett (London 52) and Ros Canter (Lordships Graffalo) sitting fourth, third and second.
German leader Michael Jung (FischerChipmunk FRH) is only 0.4 of a penalty ahead of Ros, with Laura a further 0.2 of a penalty in arrears, so assuming at least one of the British female riders jumps clear, Michael cannot knock a rail and still take individual gold. Michael does have one fence in hand over Tom.
Britain has three fences in hand to secure the team gold.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.