Great Britain’s Young Riders are Bronze Medallists in the FEI Jumping Youth European Championships

 

Day one’s Table C Speed class (where seconds are added for a knockdown), featuring 82 competitors, converted results into penalty points — the winner finishing on zero, with points progressively increasing down the leaderboard. These points counted towards both individual and team scores, with Great Britain holding their own in seventh place on 8.05 faults.

Fifteen teams came forward for the first leg of the team competition, tackling a challenging 13-fence 1.50m track. Unfortunately, Grace Debney and Jesprit H.S had a day to forget and were eliminated in this round, meaning the remaining three riders’ scores would all count toward the team total going forward. Claudia Moore tapped out a rail to finish on four faults aboard Bruce Menzies’ Enigma Z. Olivia Sponer, riding Jennifer Sponer’s Bingo du Chateau, and Rachel Proudley, piloting HK Horses’ Quality Street, both delivered vital clear rounds, keeping the team in fourth place overnight with 12.05 faults.

 

Ten teams progressed to the second round of the team competition, with all riders also jumping again for individual standings. Teams were drawn to jump at the end of the order.

Pathfinder Olivia looked poised to produce another clear for Britain, and while Bingo du Chateau gave each fence plenty of room, they just clipped the middle element of the combination, finishing on four faults. Claudia gave it her all but similarly faulted at the same combination and dropped a foot in the water, incurring eight faults.

 

As the final riders from each country jumped, positions shifted continuously — no team was safe. Poland and Denmark slipped down the order, while France remained a close contender just behind Great Britain. When Rachel entered the arena, she could afford no more than two time penalties for Britain to hold onto the bronze medal position. In her championship debut, she rose to the occasion, delivering a superb clear round to secure the bronze for Great Britain and jumping her way into provisional first place in the individual standings on just 0.7 faults ahead of Sunday’s final.

 

Commenting on the win, Clare Whitaker said: "The girls were brilliant - there was only three of them so it was always going to be really hard, but they held their own and worked really hard. The Bronze medal was well derserved!"

 

 

1st Belgium – 5.72 penalty points

 

2nd Ireland – 7.61 penalty points

 

3rd Great Britain – 24.05 penalty points

Olivia Sponer & Bingo du Chateau – 4.79 / 0 / 4

Claudia Moore & Enigma Z – 2.56 / 4 / 8

Rachel Proudley & Quality Street – 0.70 / 0 / 0

 

Image: Equisportif