Are you missing the 2019 Longines FEI European Eventing Championships? Us too. One year on from the start of this great event, we take a look back at some of our favourite moments in Luhmühlen…
1. Tina Cook borrowing Tullabeg Flamenco for the prize giving (above). We assume she didn’t want to excite Billy The Red, who became very sharp after the medal ceremony at Strzegom in 2017, and what better substitute than Sam Watson’s horse? After all, a dun could easily be mistaken for a chestnut…
2. The moment Cathal Daniels knew he’d won an individual bronze. The young Irishman has just finished giving interviews and was watching Thibaut Vallette jump on a screen outside the arena. When Qing Du Briot ENE HN hit fence five, handing the medal to Cathal and Rioghan Rua, the whole Irish team and all their supporters leapt on Cathal in a wave of cheering and celebrations.
European individual bronze medallist Cathal Daniels with his sister and father
3. Michael Jung repeatedly telling interviewers he had “a sh*t jump” after someone ran onto course waving when he was just a few strides from fence 17. We thought initially he was saying something different in German, but no, that’s definitely what he said. Of course, because he’s Michael Jung he shook the incident off and piloted FischerChipmunk FRH to a clear in the time.
4. Pippa Funnell getting Britain’s cross-country day off to a great start with a clear inside the time. Majas Hope was never going to cover himself in glory in the dressage arena, but he fully justified his call-up from the reserve bench on Saturday and provided a vital counting score in Britain’s silver.
Pippa Funnell and Majas Hope at the European Eventing Championships 2019
5. Oliver Townend blowing a kiss to the crowd as he finished his faultless cross-country round on Cooley Master Class. What a showman!
6. The end of Laura Collett’s dressage test. Laura did a superb job on the inexperienced London 52 and seeing the scoreboard confirm a Brit in the lead was definitely a high.
Laura Collett and London 52 leaving the arena after their dressage test at the European Eventing Championships 2019, with British performance manager Dickie Waygood alongside.
7. A random man trying to put a red hat on Ingrid Klimke’s head. She confirmed she had no idea who he was or why he was doing so.
8. These hairy goats, who were part of the post-cross-country entertainment in the main arena.
9. Kitty King crying in her interview after her cross-country round. She started off so composed speaking to the BBC’s Clare Balding, but suddenly broke down as the enormity of going clear at the Europeans to hold a top-10 place overnight hit her. Vendredi Biats is only 10 and these huge results are the result of immeasurable hours of work and heartache for riders and their teams.
Kitty King and Vendredi Biats at the European Eventing Championships 2019.
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10. Celebrations after Ingrid Klimke won the individual gold — here she is receiving a kiss from British team rider Piggy French.
11. Sanna Siltakorpi and Elmo Jankari, members of the three-man Finnish team, taking baby Elle to the opening ceremony. Surely a child who takes part in a European Championships opening ceremony at less than five months old will grow up to be a champion?
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