What a ride! Today’s show jumping finale of the FEI World Eventing Championships was far from an anti-climax after Saturday’s thriller of a cross-country test at Pratoni del Vivaro in Italy.
The course designed by Uliano Vezzani, set on undulating turf, provided surprises that I for one couldn’t have predicted, as the medal positions kept changing among the top four countries in a process that paved the way for a new generation to make its mark in the sport.
The grass show jumping arena at Pratoni.
Explaining his challenging route that took a toll on top combinations, Uliano said, “After a cross-country test like yesterday’s, the horses have ‘opened up’ and today they have to show that they are back in balance, well in hand. Which is exactly what you want from an eventing horse.”
But four knockdowns by world number one eventer Oliver Townend and Kentucky 5-star winner Ballaghmor Class? Unthinkable, yet it dropped Britain (the favorite going into the week) from the podium to fourth place (100.9 penalties).
Two knockdowns from Germany’s Michael Jung, who has a Fort Knox-worth pile of gold medals? How could that be, when it appeared he would set a new world record with fischerChipmunk FRH to finish on his dressage score of 18.8 penalties?
Even so, Germany was able to end with a team gold (95.2 penalties) after lingering on the lower levels of the podium throughout the competition.
Hard to believe that Boyd Martin, the anchor of so many U.S. teams, would be the drop score (42.2) in twentieth place with Tsetserleg after four rails toppled. But America finished on silver (100.3) anyway, though for a brief shining moment earlier in the day, the squad had a glimmering of gold in its sights. There were only 0.4 penalties between the U.S. and bronze medal New Zealand (100.7), and just 0.2 between New Zealand and Great Britain.
Will Coleman and Off the Record mastered the course. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian)
It was the first time in 20 years that the U.S. had medaled at the worlds, having won gold in Spain in 2002.
“I’m very proud to be an American today,” said Boyd.
“Having five clear rounds yesterday in the cross-country was awesome, and just looking at the results here, any three of the five of us could have gotten a team medal.
“I’ve been on many of these teams, and we’ve been so close over and over again, and it’s a massive sigh of relief. I’m really thankful for this team and proud to be here with these guys sitting next to me.”
The bonus was that the U.S. qualified to have an eventing team in the 2024 Paris Olympics, along with the other nations in the top seven. France already was qualified as the host country for those Games. The U.S. dressage team qualified for Paris at their championships in Denmark last month, as did the para team for the Paralympics. The show jumpers will have to use the 2023 Nations Cup Final or the 2023 Pan Am Games to qualify.
The U.S. team of Will Coleman, Lauren Nicholson, Tamie Smith and Boyd Martin.
What about the individual eventing medals, you wonder.
That, too, would have been an unlikely prediction if anybody had suggested 25-year-old Yasmin Ingham, riding as an individual for Britain, would take the gold.
At the Kentucky 5-star this year, a notice came to the press room that Yaz would be giving a press conference one afternoon. Huh? “Who is she?” I asked, wondering about her resume, aside from being the 2013 Sportwoman of the Year on her native Isle of Man, and winner of Britain’s 2021 Blenheim event. I couldn’t make the press conference, but a few days later, we found out who she was, when she finished second to Michi Jung in the 5-star.
Yasmin Ingham triumphant. (FEI / Richard Juilliart)
And today she was first on the Selle Francais Banzai du Loir, moving up from third after dressage (22 penalties) to second after cross-country (adding just 1.2 time penalties) to clear in the jumping, winding up number one on 23.2 penalties. Too bad for Britain that she was riding as an individual instead of on the team.
Yasmin Ingham jumped clean to win individual gold at the FEI World Eventing Championshipsl.
As Michi’s horse brought down the plank at the tricky final fence, Yaz gasped and was immediately enveloped in hugs.
“Honestly, I’m still not believing it,” she said, a bit breathless moments later.
“I really didn’t think this would happen. My horse, Banzai, was just impeccable; perfect, could not fault him today in the show jumping round. I’m just over the moon. I can’t explain how happy I am, because there’s just no words for it.
“I’m shaking at the moment, even still.”
Describing today as extreme pressure and nerve-wracking, Yaz said she “tried to treat it as a normal competition, and make sure I did my normal plan, and routine and structured system. Stuck to it, blocked everything else out and focused on the job.”
Yaz on Banzai.
Banzai, she emphasized, “just delivered. He was absolutely perfect.”
She is the latest link in the tradition of British eventing world champions; Lucinda Green, Ginny Leng, Zara Phillips Tindall and Ros Canter, who won four years ago and was fourth today with Lordship’s Graffalo (26.2), who is only 10 years old.
Yaz has looked up to the more experienced riders on the team and took advice from them.
“Now that I’ve managed to do it and become world champion, I’m just speechless,” she said.
How cool is this mounted band that led in the medalists?
Olympic champion Julia Krajewski of Germany took silver with a clear round on Amande de B’Neville (26 penalties), moving up from fifth after cross-country. New Zealand’s world number three, Tim Price, also fault free, took bronze with 26.2 penalties. He had the same score as Ros, but with a cross-country time closer to the optimum to break the tie. His mount, Falco, was developed by Sue Dempsey, who designed the cross-country course for the 2012 London Olympics.
“We worked so hard for this, we focused on it for years, this kind of major event, it means everything,” said Tim, whose wife, Jonelle, rode on the team with him.
Michi wound up a disappointing fifth (26.8), but emphasized he was very happy for the team.
“It was a fantastic performance, everyone was great. Today I’m a little bit unlucky, but luckily, on the other side, it was enough for the team.”
The USA’s Tamie Smith, poised for the podium in third place with Mai Baum after cross-country, saw her individual medal prospects disappear with two rails down, putting her ninth on 32 penalties. Her horse had lost his front shoes on cross-country and may have been feeling the effects of that today.
Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian)
Her score left Will Coleman as the highest-placed American, seventh with Off the Record (27.2) after a fault-free round.
Lauren Nicholson had two rails and a time penalty with Vermiculus (41.1) to place nineteenth for the team, while Ariel Grad, riding as an individual for the U.S., was part of that rising generation I mentioned to end up eleventh after a faul-free trip on Leamore Master Plan (32.5).
That was impressive, considering she was fiftieth following dressage. Jumping is the forte of her Irish-bred son of Master Imp.
Ariel Grald and Leamore Master Plan. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian)
U.S. Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello called it “such a crazy day. I had a feeling when I walked the course that it was going to be very influential. I’d never seen such a consistently big and very technical track and have those three lines, all single jumps to combinations, with three completely different distances. It was a real important phase, and no team went unscathed, and you had to keep fighting to the end.”
Ariel, Tamie and Boyd are still working with former eventing performance manager Erik Duvander, whose contract was not renewed last December by the U.S. Equestrian Federation. Bobby Costello took over as interim chef d’equipe this year.
“The most pleasing thing is that America has won a medal after a long drought and I’m very, very proud of the way the riders rode and how they present themselves, It’s very, very good,” said Erik, who was in Italy to help his riders but expressed pride in the team as a whole.
Much of what they have done was built on a foundation of the four years he gave the U.S. effort.
Although pathfinder Will Coleman does not work with him, Erik called that rider “very impressive…he’s been in the game for such a long time, but I think he’s now grown into the shoes and is now a serious competitor on the world stage but also within the team. He’s got the confidence and the self-belief and the skills as well.”
The nicest development, he added, is the number of people from other nations who “came up to me and congratulated on how America has turned around from being an average nation to a top nation. It has been noted by everyone.”
Click here for the team results. Click this link for the individual results.
