The show jumpers start before the last dressage test of the World Equestrian Championships in Denmark. The German team shows different performances in time jumping.
A strong performance by Christian Ahlmann, the last rider, saved the start of the German show jumping team in the World Championships.
After the time competition in Herning, Denmark, the team of national coach Otto Becker is in sixth place after a total of two knockdowns. After the first of three partial tests of the team classification, the quartet from Sweden leads ahead of France and Belgium.
“The first goal has been achieved“
“The first objective has been achieved, we are within reach“, commented Becker: “Hopefully we can work a bit further“, he said after the mistakes of Marcus Ehning (Borken) with Stargold and André Thieme (Plau am See) with Chakaria, which prevented a better result: “Of course we would have preferred one less mistake.“
Starting rider Ehning came out of the course with four penalty points during his brisk ride on Stargold, which were converted into penalty seconds in this time competition. “That was my fault“Said the 48-year-old from Borken:”I made a wrong decision.“His stallion was in great shape,” enthused the 2010 team world champion and said with a wink: “He did well, I badly.“
Debutante Wargers with a clean round
On the other hand, debutant Jana Wargers showed a clear round with Limbridge. “I’m super, super happy“, commented the 30-year-old on the first world championship ride of her life. She was not particularly excited, reported the 30-year-old, who comes from Emsdetten and now lives in Belgium. “I’m actually a quiet person and try not to get nervous.” Nevertheless, she was impressed by the atmosphere with almost 10,000 spectators in the converted football stadium: “This is something completely new.“The national coach was not entirely satisfied, she reported:”He said I could have gone a bit faster.“
In contrast to the World Cup debutant, André Thieme also made a mistake. The European champion from Plau am See didn’t ride as fast with Chakaria as Ehning. “I would have loved to have contributed to a good result“, commented the 47-year-old: “If I had made zero mistakes by that time, I would of course have been able to help a lot better.” To his mare Chakaria he said: “She’s in shape, I can’t take that too much to heart. She is actually a horse that is improving, so I already have a good feeling for the next few days.“
The team had Christian Ahlmann to thank for the fact that it was still a decent starting position for the other two laps. The professional from Marl showed a flawless round with Dominator and is the best German in the individual with ninth place. “The feeling was very good“, commented Ahlmann: “We had a good rhythm. Every jump was relaxed, careful and focused.“