Ireland have delivered an outstanding team performance to win the silver medal at the European Showjumping Championships at the San Siro racecourse in Milan, Italy (30 August-3 September).
The Irish squad had come into Friday’s medal decider in fourth position, less than a penalty behind leaders Germany. But in an afternoon of extreme highs and lows, their key rivals Switzerland and Germany dropped away – the latter after the shock withdrawal of Marcus Ehning and Stargold – and Ireland held their nerve to finish second to gold medal-winners Sweden, with Austria chasing them home in third.
“I’m not really surprised to find ourselves on the podium,” said Team Ireland’s chef d’equipe Michael Blake with a smile. “Obviously, I knew we had an uphill task. We had one or two changes coming into these championships, but I suppose one thing we’re most proud of is that we could make two, three, four or even five changes to our team – we have a lot of strength in Ireland.
“We’ve used in excess of 30 riders on the five-star Nations Cup shows this year and I think that’s phenomenal. I’m so proud to be able to be involved with people that are that good and love the sport that much. And, you know, they really put the country first – they make my job really easy. OK, sometimes it’s a bit of a headache, you know, with a lot of people vying to get on teams. But that’s a good thing.”
European Showjumping Championships: “The future looks good for Ireland”
The Irish quartet consisted of Michael Duffy (Cinca 3), Trevor Breen on Highland President and Shane Sweetnam riding James Kann Cruz with Eoin McMahon as anchorman on Mila. They completed on a team score of 19, behind champions Sweden on 9.51pen, and just ahead of surprise bronze medallists Austria.
Shane Sweetnam was part of Ireland’s gold medal-winning team at the 2017 European Showjumping Championships, “As the Swedish riders will remember well!” he joked.
“But they’ve been going great guns since. This is special – I was talking to [Irish Olympian] Gerry Mullins last week and I was just saying that the first medal is sometimes a career highlight, especially for Irish riders. So to now get two medals is special. Then the way the younger riders are coming on, with Eoin, Michael and this is Trevor’s first championship, and there’s such depth. Then we’ve won with the juniors, the young riders, the ponies this year, so the future looks good for us. World domination isn’t too far away!”
Team Ireland: “Great team spirit, all the lads got stuck in”
Trevor Breen agreed that competing at these championships, particularly on his home-bred Highland President, was “very special”.
“It’s my first championship at any level so it was a big thing for me to get the nod from Michael Blake,” said Trevor. “We’ve had really great team spirit – these are a great bunch of lads and we all got stuck in as best we could.”
For Eoin McMahon, who only teamed up with Ludger Beerbaum’s great mare Mila earlier this year, this championship was unexpected.
“Everything was a bit of a surprise, a bonus – it’s starting to come together now,” said Eoin, who is based in Riesenbeck with the legendary German rider. “To get a silver medal is really special.”
Michael Duffy and Cinca 3, who have jumped clear throughout these championships, are currently in the individual bronze medal position going into Sunday’s final medal decider.
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