Show jumping is unpredictable, as proved once again three weeks ago. On 20 July, national coach Jos Lansink announced his definitive team for the World Cup in Herning, Denmark. And exactly one day later, Willem Greve, one of the selected riders, had an unfortunate fall during a competition. The result: a broken ankle and upper arm. And a cancellation for Herning.
Bad luck for Greve and for Lansink, for whom the World Cup is his first major tournament as national coach. Greve and his horse were “one of the stronger combinations”, says Lansink. “A pillar falls away.” Shortly before that, it had already been announced that Marc Houtzager, part of the Tokyo Olympic team in 2021, also had to drop out for the World Cup due to a hoof injury of his top horse Dante.
This Wednesday, the four-member show jumping team will come into action for the first time in Herning. Two other Tokyo Olympic riders will be in action: Harrie Smolders and Maikel van der Vleuten. The latter won individual bronze at the Games. The equally experienced reserve Jur Vrieling moved on to fill the place of the retired Greve.
Talent Sanne Thijssen was first selected for the Dutch team. At 23 she is still young, says Lansink. “But I personally think she can handle the pressure.”
The goal of this World Cup is clear: to be at least fifth and thus obtain a starting ticket for the Paris Games, 2024. How feasible is that? Lansink: “If I’m very honest, that could go either way. There are six or seven strong countries. The shape of the week will be decisive. If you make too many mistakes in the beginning, that will haunt you for the rest of the days.” The national teams compete against each other for three consecutive days in different rounds for a place on the podium. There are also individual races on Sundays.
‘Peace and clarity’
National coach Jos Lansink succeeded Rob Ehrens in January, whose contract was not renewed after sixteen years by the equestrian sports association KNHS. Reasons for this were the poor performance of the jumping team in recent years. Ehrens would also have been too little visible.
What is the stamp that Lansink, himself a seven-time Olympic participant, leaves? “Jos leaves nothing to chance,” says Iris Boelhouwer, technical director of the KNHS. “He works very systematically: this is the goal, this is where we will peak. Peace and clarity, that is Jos’s hand.”
Lansink himself says that he has placed a lot of emphasis on the annual planning of his team, on choosing which race will be run and which will not. “I said try not to do too much.”
Because that is what is lurking in show jumping. The program of top show jumpers and amazons has become much busier in recent years, due to commercial competitions Rolex Grand Slam and the Global Champions Tour. These are lucrative, but also cost a lot of time and energy from both riders and horses. That can be at the expense of performance at a World Cup, says Lansink. “You will have to make choices. You can’t dance at every fair. Less can sometimes be more, I have always noticed that as a rider myself.”
Also read: a profile of amazon Sanne Thijssen, member of the show jumping team that participates in the World Championships. She likes extreme horses.
“I sometimes affectionately call the show jumping riders and riders my fairground customers,” says Boelhouwer of the KNHS. “They are away from home so much. From Wednesday to Sunday. Nowadays you can opt for multiple matches at the highest level every weekend.” Those who drive relatively little will drop into the world rankings, and are welcome at fewer competitions.
The show jumping sport has to be careful not to go ‘towards golf or tennis’, says Boelhouwer. “That you only have commercial circuits, such as Wimbledon. Then the prices will exceed the national honour.”
Horses sold
It has not been going great with Dutch jumping for years. The last Olympic team medal was ten years ago: silver at the 2012 London Games. Vrieling and Van der Vleuten then also drove. The assignment to Lansink of the KNHS is therefore to be on the podium again in Paris in two years’ time in Paris.
One of the problems is that promising horses regularly disappear abroad because they are sold. Lansink: “The Netherlands is and remains a trading country.” As the owner of a well-performing horse, it is also difficult to make the choice between money and sporting performance, he says. Take Team Nijhof, the stallion farm that owns Grandorado, which Willem Greve rides. It was decided not to mate with the stallion for a while, in order to be able to perform as well as possible in sport. But then Greve dropped out just before the World Cup with an arm and ankle fracture. Lansink: “They have lost a lot of money.”
For years, efforts have been made to keep good horses for Dutch sport. Partly with success: last week it was announced that the Netherlands Olympiade Horse (NOP) foundation – financed by the NOC-NSF and the KNHS – has succeeded in registering two top show jumpers for a longer period of time. The owners receive a financial compensation, so that they can stay in the Netherlands. It concerns Beauville Z and Monaco, on which Van der Vleuten and Smolders are driving respectively.
This is immediately visible in Herning: the horses will appear at the start on Wednesday with their ‘new’ names Beauville Z NOP and Monaco NOP