Children defend European Championship gold
The FEI European Championships for U14 dressage riders, the Children, have been held since 2015. In 2018, the German quartet took part in the European Championships for the first time with a U14 team and had to be content with silver back then. Since then, the black-red-gold team has received the gold medal every year - including this year at the Schafhof in Kronberg. With 248.035 points, the German children's team moved ahead of their competitors from Sweden, who followed with 233.559 points. The team from Spain secured bronze with 228.851 points. It was a close decision for third and fourth place, which was only decided with the last Spanish rider shortly before the end of the test. In the end, the team from the Netherlands had to take fourth place with 226.159 points.
The team from Sweden celebrated a premiere: for the first time, the Swedes received a team medal at the Children's European Dressage Championships. For the Spaniards it was team medal number two after silver in 2016. And for the Orange team it was the first time since 2017 that they went home without a team medal.
The German gold team included: Lilly Marie Heins (Sandbostel/HAN) with Skyline, Vivianne Merccker (Munich/BAY) with Djamalla, Marie Bernhard (Iggingen/BAW) with For Rock G and team chick Therese Billig (Taucha/SAC) with Faro Shen. For all four, Kronberg was the very first European Championship of their lives. Head of Equipe Cornelia Albrecht beamed: “We are incredibly proud of our four young ladies, who impressed here with a very consistent performance – both in the first test and today in the team test. This is a great confirmation for the national coaches and of course the home trainers for the good training of young people and our good training system in Germany.
The Swedish medal team is also an all-girls team, consisting of Meja Kinde Ljungh with Rondo, Milla Blomqvist with Sandro, Tilda André Hokfelt with Hamilton's I Did It My Way and Ronja Kardos with Holly's Final. “I believe that exactly what we saw today is the future of dressage,” emphasized Swedish Equipe boss Marianne Esseen-Söderberg. “Of course they are great riders with fantastic horses, but what is just as important and should never be forgotten: Above all, we have a lot of fun!” However, Esseen-Söderberg announced that there would be no celebration that evening, but that everyone would go to bed early. “Tomorrow is another important day.”
The Spaniards see it a little more loosely, they have achieved their dream goal: the bronze medal! “We have to celebrate,” Luz Bella Lendinez-Martinez cheered and added with a mischievous grin: “At least a little.” Turning to her riders, the young Spaniard explained with dignity: “These riders here are the future of Spanish dressage and let me put it this way: the future looks bright! It fills me with immense pride to accompany this generation of great riders on their journey.” A large fan base and of course the four riders cheered for the Spaniards: Jeanette Vallve Martin with Zanon, Carmen F. Prado Gómez-Jarabo with Bambino, Jessica Gonzalo Aguilera with Juanito X and - the only young man on the team podium - Martin Aragón Martin with Sir Medano.
The best 18 riders in today's team test can compete for medals in the individual competition on Sunday, but a maximum of three per nation. Germany is the only nation to have placed four riders in the top 18. Despite her performance of over 80 percent, Lilly Marie will not be able to compete in the final. Sweden and Spain will also be represented in the final with three riders. “When I judged a Children's European Championship in Vidauban for the first time in 2015, we had 31 starters, today we have almost 50. Tomorrow we will also have ten different nations in the final, which shows that the sport is becoming broader. This is a great development,” emphasized the chief judge of the Children’s team classification, Christof Umbach, from Luxembourg. “It is also really impressive how professionally these young people already ride and show us once again that correct riding and fair behavior towards the horse are important. The partnership between horse and rider is what counts in the end, that was really nice to see.”
Team conclusion from the tournament director
A very satisfied smile was on the face of tournament director Matthias Alexander Rath: “I am more than satisfied with this result. In the junior team rankings we had Germany, Austria, Denmark and Great Britain on the podium and today, in addition to Germany, there are also Spain and Sweden. There are more and more nations that win medals with good riding. This is a top development.”
(KiK/pe&pa)