5th place finish for GB in Sopot for Team NAF
Sunday 20 June 2021
Today’s CSIO5* Longines FEI Nations Cup of Poland competition certainly had some highs and lows today for the British Team competing under the banner of Team NAF today at the coastal resort of Sopot.
The standings after the first round saw four nations topping the leaderboard with Germany, Norway, Ireland and Belgium on a zero penalty score. Great Britain sat just behind on 4 penalties with France and the USA following on 8 each. Poland, Morocco and Italy took the final three places respectively with double figure scores.
Opening for the Brits was Alexandra Thornton from London with the 15 year-old dark bay gelding Cornetto K owned by Dunwalke Ltd. Their foot-perfect clear in the first round was mirrored in the second when they returned home within the time allowed and with nothing to add. Producing the first double clear of the competition Alexandra gave the team a perfect platform to continue from.
Harry Charles from Alton, Hampshire with the 12 year-old bay stallion Romeo 88 owned by Ann Thompson was next to go for the team. A touch of a back pole at the second fence in the first round saw them pick up 4 penalties. However they put this behind them when they came out and posted a second round clear to edge GB further up the leaderboard and in with a chance of a potential win.
Joe Stockdale from Roade, Northamptonshire with the 10 year-old bay mare Equine America Cacharel IV owned by Joy Cocklin were both making their debut appearance on a top level team today. Two fences caught them in the first round to see them pick up 8 penalties and it was two fences again and a toe in the water that saw them accrue 12 penalties in the second.
William Funnell from Dorking, Surrey with the Billy Stud homebred and owned 11 year-old chestnut gelding Equine America Billy Diamo had delivered a fantastic first round clear to keep Great Britain on just 4 penalties and in the sharp end of the field. The second round however saw Will incur a fall which meant that GB finished on a total of 16 penalties along with Ireland and Norway. With cumulative times of the second rounds then deciding how the final placings would be aarded it meant that Ireland took 3rd, Norway 4th and GB 5th by just a couple of seconds separating them.
It was a clear win for Germany, the only team to finish on a zero score with 2nd place going to Belgium who carried a single fence score of 4 penalties.
Di Lampard, World Class Performance Manager for Showjumping, said after the competition “Alexandra Thornton put in an outstanding performance today delivering a double clear in her role of pathfinder. We also had two further clears across the team from Will Funnell and Harry Charles, both of which were equally impressive.”
The Grand Prix takes place on Friday 18 June at 16:00 hrs local time and the Nations Cup will be on Sunday 20 June at 12:00 hrs local time. The Chef d’Equipe for the team will be Di Lampard, the World Class Performance Manager for Showjumping.
For further information on the show and full results can be found here http://csio.sopot.pl/en/
British Showjumping would like to thank NAF, title sponsors of the Senior Nations Cup Teams along with the Pony, Children, Junior, Young Rider and Veteran teams.
NAF’s premium range of Five Star brands include Superflex, Superflex Senior, PROFEET, Optimum, Magic, Oestress and Respirator Boost with quality at the heart of everything they do. They are a UFAS (Universal Feed Assurance Scheme), GMP+ (International Feed Assurance Scheme) and BETA NOPS (Naturally Occuring Prohibited Substances) accredited company and this enables them to guarantee full traceability on all the natural ingredients they utilise in their formulations, which are also selected in compliance with the FEI guidelines for Clean Sport. For further information, visit www.naf-equine.eu/uk/index.jsp.
The GBR showjumping teams are supported by the British Equestrian Federation’s World Class Programme, funded by UK Sport through the National Lottery. The Programme focuses on identifying talent, developing potential and maximising medal-winning performances on the world stage.
11dtw0hmsttk0.jpg "NAF Five Star Bronze and Silver League Qualifiers get underway at Speetley Equestrian Centre")
