Belgium made a great podium leap from third place to take gold Friday at the Longines FEI European Jumping Championships for the first time since 2019.
The scores were so close it could have been anybody’s gold among the top three.
Britain, which had been leading since the competition began on Wednesday, slipped back to silver with two Olympic gold medalists and two championships newcomers on its side. Germany stayed steady to keep ahead of Ireland for bronze in the contest that attracted teams from 18 countries to Spain. Only the top 10 nations took part in the finals.
The Belgian team of Pieter Devos, Gilles Thomas, Nicola Philippaerts, Thibeau Spits and chef d’equipe Peter Weinberg. (FEI Photo/Benjamin Clark)
After Gilles Thomas put in a perfect trip to secure the Belgian win aboard Ermitage Kalone, the anchor rider said the victory “means a lot. From a young kid, you always watch championships, the championships are so important. To have a horse like Ermitage Kalone, I have to give him a medal. The way he was jumping today, he felt amazing.”
Gilles knew, “I could just do my thing and he will leave the fences up.”
Belgium’s chef d’equipe, Peter Weinberg, noted about his squad, “It was a quite young team this time, but they are unbelievable riders and with very good nerves, as you could see in the second round. We came from behind and the horses were jumping brilliantly.”
The route put together by 2024 Olympic co-course designer Santiago Varela and his team was imposing but delicate, with an 81-second time-allowed that proved a bit more challenging than on the other days of the competition. German veteran Marcus Ehning called it “a really, really tough course.”
The Belgian, British and German teams on the podium.
The British drop score on Thursday and Friday belonged to senior championships newcomer Matthew Sampson. He had two refusals in the triple combination on Thursday with Medoc de Toxandria and was eliminated.
A different triple on Friday also was a problem. Matthew’s horse hit the A element oxer and then refused the B segment, which was a vertical topped by a plank. It was an “oh, no!” moment, but instead of retiring, Matthew tried again and made it through. He finished on 14 penalties; 8 for the knockdown and refusal and 6 for time, but completing showed the mettle of horse and rider.
“Medoc jumped amazing again,” said Matt.
“Obviously, we had a little hiccup the first time in the triple combination and I think that was really, honestly, coming to (due to) yesterday. I had the feeling that he really wanted to jump it, honestly, and that’s why I came back the second time, and I think he proved what an amazing horse is,” Matt continued.
“There aren’t many horses that can lose confidence like that, you know, in a certain fence, and the rider a little bit, and come back from it. But I put my leg on and said, ‘Come on boy, we can do it’ and he said, ‘Okay’. And he just jumped it.
“I think he jumped it better than you could ever want a horse to jump it the second time, so I’m disappointed with the score, but very proud of the horse. It’s a difficult situation to be in, especially in a championship like this,” he noted.
Although Olympic gold medalists Ben Maher (Dallas Vegas Batilly) and Scott Brash (Hello Folie) were fault-free, taking out both top rails on B of the double combination that was the next-to-last obstacle meant 4 faults for Donald Whitaker and Millfield Colette.
Without that error, Britain would have stayed in the lead, but it wound up with 7.96 penalties to 5.61 for Belgium.
After a clean slate Thursday, 4 faults each in the final round from 2024 Olympic individual gold medalist Christian Kukuk on Just Be Gentle and Marcus Ehning (Coolio 42) left Germany with bronze and 8.19 faults. If either of them had gone clear, Germany would have won.
Germany’s Richard Vogel on the fabulous Westfalen stallion United Touch S is in the lead for the individual title, which will be contested Sunday by the top 25 riders, some of whom, like Richie, were on teams, and some who were not. He has 0.01 penalties, while Scott has 1.08 with his Selle Francais mare, only 10 years old and doing herself proud in her first championships.
Reigning European Champion Steve Guerdat of Switzerland had a beautifully planned trip Friday, giving a real riding lesson, with Albfuehren’s Iashin Sitte, descended on his dam’s side from the famous Tinka’s Boy. Steve’s total is 1.19 penalties. The top 12 after Sunday’s first round will come back for a final crack at the title.
There are 13 riders within one fence of each other, and two fences between the top 25.
Click here for team results and here for individual standings
