‘A rollercoaster of emotions’: the ups and downs of showjumping as new team final serves up thriller

In an exhilarating display of world-class sport, Germany came home as the jubilant victors of the inaugural Longines League of Nations (LLN) Final yesterday (6 October).

The new-look series for 2024, a radical departure from the traditional Nations Cup format, reached its climax at the Real Club De Polo in Barcelona, Spain, where fortunes oscillated wildly for the nine finalists. However it was Otto Becker’s side’s superb horsemanship and composure under pressure that earned them the right to be the first to etch their names on the new silverware.

“Today was a great day, a weekend we will never forget,” said world number 10 Richard Vogel, who jumped double clear for the winning team with the phenomenal stallion United Touch S.

The competition was neck and neck from the off and, with the luxury of a drop score in round one, Germany and the Netherlands topped the leaderboard on a zero score.

France, Sweden and Brazil formed a chasing pack carrying four faults, a fence ahead of Ireland, with USA and Spain on 12 faults. The first big surprise of the afternoon was that Switzerland were already trailing on 24 faults.

Switching to the three-rider per team format for round two, chefs d’equipe had to make tactical choices as to which riders to bring forward. Also, although the meaty championship course remained unchanged, Olympic designer Santiago Varela raised fence 7a and b – a double of airy verticals with a Liverpool under the second element – which would prove pivotal to the competition. The double became something of a bogey fence, while the Polo Club plank two fences later, on either a long five or short six strides from the previous oxer, was the downfall of many.

Just under half the competitors jumped clear in round one while in round two the strike rate dropped to just 22%; Santi noted that the majority of faults throughout the day came at the verticals and front poles of oxers.

Longines League of Nations Final: a shock elimination

Switzerland’s fortunes didn’t improve into the second round and they were only replaced at the bottom of the rankings by France, who were eliminated after Kevin Staut’s Beau De Laubry Z stopped at the double, depositing his rider. Both walked away unscathed.

Jana Wargers and her mare Dorette OLD’s four faults in round one were Germany’s drop score next to her team-mates’ three clears and Otto Becker made the decision to leave her out of round two. German pathfinder Andre Thieme (DSP Chakaria) earned a round of applause as the first contender to clear the tricky double second time around. However after a huge leap over the following oxer, the six strides to the gold plank then came up short and it toppled, passing pole position temporarily to the Dutch.

But when the newly crowned Olympic champion Christian Kukuk, at his first show back with Checker 47 who had jumped immaculately in round one, picked up eight faults against the Netherlands’ second rider Kim Emmen (Imagine), who collected 12 faults, the two nations were back on equal terms for the final rotation.

Ireland’s anchor rider Daniel Coyle and Legacy conjured up a foot-perfect double clear to take the squad within striking distance of the podium on a team score of 20. Peder Fredricson, another Olympian making an international return with his Paris 2024 partner, the 18-year-old Catch Me Not S, added four faults, placing Sweden on the same score as Ireland but in a faster time.

The Longines League of Nations Final reached its crescendo with the remaining two riders and, as Santiago summed up, “With this format you have to wait until the very end because everything can change in just a second.”

Germany had two fences in hand over Sweden, but with the Dutch breathing down their necks, final rider Richard Vogel and his stunning stallion had no room for error. But they powered home as smoothly as ever to seal the perfect double clear.

Had they done enough to win?

The baton was passed to final rider Harrie Smolders on Uricas VD Kattevennen and a clear would force a jump-off with Germany, but one fence down was game over and so it panned out – the plank played its part one last time and the heartache reverberated round the stands as the Dutch side dropped into second. Harrie’s team-mates clutched their heads in disbelief.

But the celebrations rang out for Germany, with Richard Vogel crediting another epic performance from the incredible son of Untouched, owned and bred by Julius-Peter Sinnack.

“I have a very special horse and he showed us one more time just how special he is,” he said.“Especially in the second round, I don’t think there are many horses that can come back as strong as him and I’m happy that I gave him a good enough ride.

“He felt very good the first round, then the pressure was on for the second round – a lot of things were happening and it was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions watching it.”

The 2021 European champion Andre Thieme described DSP Chakaria’s first round clear as “incredible”.

“I was disappointed with my one rail down, but the second round showed us that there were so many rails coming down so actually four faults ended up being a pretty good result,” he said.

“I’m thrilled to be part of that team and it feels very special.”

Christian Kukuk attributed his second-round faults to “inaccuracy” in his riding.

“I had a very good first round, I jumped in Friday’s grand prix because it was his first show since the Paris Olympics but I think his condition is not yet at this level, so he was a bit behind me in the second round today and I was just a bit too shy and didn’t ride accurately enough,” he said with typical self-criticism.

“I was a bit far off the double of verticals – only about 20cm, but that’s enough on a course like this – then I had an unlucky fault at the plank, so I was a bit disappointed by my round,” he said. “My riding wasn’t as accurate as in Paris and that’s what you need – always. Fortunately we had Richie and he was flying – he brought us the win today and it was incredible to see.”

Where did Ireland finish in the Longines League of Nations Final?

Ireland’s chef d’equipe Michael Blake was pleased with Ireland’s fourth-place finish but “disappointed that we let it slip”.

Pathfinder Denis Lynch with Vistogrand and Daniel Coyle (Legacy) both jumped clear in round one, while Cian O’Connor came home with eight faults on Fancy De Kergane, the only nine-year-old in the contest. Another of the shock results came with a miscommunication between Friday’s grand prix victor Mikey Pender and HHS Calais between the treble combination and the following narrow vertical.  The run-out resulted in four faults, adding to the 12 time penalties he accrued, in part for crossing the start line a fraction too late.

Denis, Mikey and Daniel were picked as Ireland’s representatives for round two, returning a team score of 12. This put them equal with Sweden but they finished off the podium in fourth as the deciding factor was accumulated time.

“We came here with not too bad a team, some of us made a few mistakes and you can’t be doing that in a final like this,” said Michael Blake. “The trophy was within our grasp and we’ll learn from it. But congratulations to the three teams that were on the podium, they were great.”

Where was the British team?

The top eight teams from the 10 nations competing in the 2024 series qualified for the LLN Final, with Spain joining as hosts. The four global qualifiers, starting in Abu Dhabi in February, were reduced to three when the third leg in St Gallen was cancelled owing to adverse weather conditions and Great Britain’s best result came with a third-place finish in Rotterdam on the back of 10th in Ocala and seventh in Abu Dhabi. That meant the Olympic gold medallists, alongside Belgium, failed to make the cut for Barcelona.

Four riders shared the €200,000 (£168,000) double clear bonus – Daniel Coyle and Richard Vogel were joined by Dutch rider Maikel van der Vleuten with his Olympic bronze medal-winning partner Beauville Z, and flying Spaniard Armando Trapote on Tornado VS. Maikel, Daniel and Henrik von Eckermann were also awarded as the best athletes of the season, having each jumped five clear rounds.

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