TEAM GB SECURE FIRST LONGINES LEAGUE OF NATIONS WIN
It was a tale of persistence and team depth on Sunday, as Great Britain took first place in Longines League of Nations™ competition at St. Tropez-Gassin. The final qualifying leg in France saw the Brits, under the direction of Chef d’Equipe Di Lampard, end on 15 penalty points, moving up from fifth place in Round 2 for the win.
Team Italy, coached by Elisa Solerio, had a similar climb up the leaderboard to finish in second place, 1 point behind Great Britain. Peter Weinberg’s Belgian team ended their campaign on 17 points to join them on the podium.
Sunday’s results mean Great Britain finished the season in second place behind France in the battle to go to the Final at Barcelona in just two weeks’ time.
Germany — the defending champions from 2024 — are currently in third place, followed by Belgium, Ireland, Italy, the USA, and the Netherlands. Sweden and Switzerland will have to wait another year to try for the championship, as they did not make the final eight teams to punch a ticket to Spain.
The wins this season were spread across the participating teams. Ireland dominated the season opener at Abu Dhabi (UAE), with the USA picking up the win on home soil at Ocala. The Netherlands also enjoyed a home victory at Rotterdam.
Early drama
The event at Haras de Gassin in St. Tropez was the final chance to secure a berth to Barcelona. French Olympic course designer Grégory Bodo set a track befitting the level of sport, with a few fragile elements, a daunting water element, and a time limit of 71 seconds.
Uncharacteristically, neither the Netherlands nor Ireland advanced after the first round, ending on 16 points apiece.
Germany was in the lead on 5 points, chased by Sweden on 7 and Italy and Belgium each on 8. They were followed by Great Britain, Switzerland, France, and the USA.
The waning light and clouds threatening rain as the afternoon went on certainly made the course appear flatter in Round 2. This made the water jump more challenging, which showed up on the scoreboard for a number of teams.
And fatigue and the pressure of no discard score took their toll too.
Gredley's clear
As the athletes lined up for the last rotation, Great Britain had quietly worked their way up the ladder to take the lead, demonstrating their grit after an elimination for Mark Edwards and Dillinger Ne in Round 1.
A clear from Tim Gredley aboard Medoc de Toxandria was just the motivation they needed to hold steady. Jack Whitaker put 4 on the board with Jack JL — a tough penalty that was the result of losing a stirrup early in the course.
With 13 points, the British team were seconds ahead of Belgium, also on 13, with Germany on 14 points and Italy and France each on 16.
A foot on the tape at the water meant Kevin Staut and his longtime partner Visconti du Telman snagged 4 extra points to leave Team France on a total of 20.
Next up, Great Britain’s Andrian Whiteway rode clear with Chacco Volo, a 12-year-old Chacco-Blue stallion. But would 2 points for being over the time allowed be expensive enough to keep them out of the prize giving, as they completed on 15 points?
The answers came with the final few rides.
Excellent Italy
Belgium was sitting pretty with a double clear from Annelies Vorsselmans and Trezeguet. Five points for Rik Hemeryck (Inoui du Seigneur) wasn’t much if Jeroen Appelen, the anchor athlete, could go clear with King CJS.
But an extra 4 for Appelen gave the Belgians 17 points in total. Where would that put them in the end?
A stunning double clear from Italy’s Piergiorgio Bucci and the amazing Hantano followed 8 from Emanuele Camilli (Chacareno PS) and another double clear from Riccardo Pisani (Chatolinue PS).
The Italians’ 16 points that guaranteed them a top three spot showed why they were able to gain entry to the Longines League of Nations™ series this year and how their team is growing by literal leaps and bounds.
It all came down to Germany to see how the podium would shake out.
Four points for Daniel Deusser (Otello de Guldenboom) and 5 from Laura Klaphake (VDL Quizano van’t Mereisnest) put immense pressure on anchor athlete Sandra Auffarth to go clear with Quirici H. Would her three Olympic medals in Eventing hold her in good stead this time around?
It was looking locked up until the pair knocked the penultimate vertical and a plank hit the ground. Those 4 points put Germany on 18 points overall, and they would have to settle for fourth, followed by France, the USA, Sweden, and Switzerland.
GB's joy
It was Great Britain at the top, with Italy in second and Belgium in third.
Said Britain’s Mark Edwards of sitting on the sidelines for his nation’s ultimate victory: “It was hard watching, but we had a great team.”
“It must be in the name,” joked Jack Whitaker of his luck aboard Jack JL, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood. “I’m absolutely delighted.”
Tim Gredley was disappointed with his initial score but relied on Medoc’s experience to carry him through the second round. “In the first round, I didn’t ride very well,” he said. “But he came out and jumped even better the second round.”
Adrian Whiteway was still reeling from his team’s victory as he headed to the awards ceremony. “I’m absolutely over the moon!”
Whiteway watched his team going up the leaderboard and knew what he had to do as the anchor. “I just wanted to keep all the jumps up.”
“We’ve had a really good season,” said Chef d’Equipe Di Lampard, “but we’ve gotten better throughout the season.”
Lampard noted that her athletes’ persistence and consistency paid off at St. Tropez-Gassin, where the team also revelled in luxury accommodations and superb horse facilities at the polo club there.
How will that translate to the Final at Barcelona on 5 October?
With the top four teams all within 20 points of each other in the qualifiers, it’s sure to be a thriller. And we can’t rule out a run for the podium from any of the other four teams, three of whom have won legs this season.
--ENDS--
Photo by FEI/Martin Dokoupil
Full results here
Current standings here