The Netherlands rounded off a phenomenal 12 days in Aachen when showjumper Jeroen Dubbeldam was crowned Rolex European Champion with SFN Zenith. Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet won silver while Simon Delestre from France claimed bronze.
Orange is the new gold
Orange has been the colour of the championships, with the Dutch topping the medal table with four golds – including team dressage, team driving, team showjumping and finally the individual showjumping.
The individual final was contested over two final rounds of showjumping in front of a packed crowd in the Soers Arena. Spain’s Sergio Alvarez Moya came into the final as the leader but Dubbeldam was close on his heels, just over 1pen in arrears.
The first of the two rounds took its toll, with only five of the 25 starters jumping clear and the leaderboard changing throughout as leading combinations dropped out of contention.
Jeroen put the pressure on with another foot-perfect clear, and last to go Alvarez Moya’s hopes of winning gold were dashed when the first part of the tricky triple combination fell.
Second round
The new course for the second round wasn’t quite as taxing, with eight of the remaining 22 horses jumping clear.
Another fence down for Alvarez Moya saw Simon Delestre move up to bronze position while the Spaniard dropped off the medal podium. Gregory Wathelet then jumped a superb clear to put pressure on the Dutchman, giving him very little room for error.
He could not afford a fence down, but a steady clear to finish on one time fault was enough to give him the gold medal.
“When you come here to Aachen, one of the most difficult places for a championship and one of the nicest, you know it’s going to be a top battle,” said Jeroen. “So many good riders and so many good horses. And you also need to be a little bit lucky. Everything has to be good, you have to be fit, your horse has to be fit, and then you can focus on everything, but in the end you need some luck. I had the luck on my side, and today it is a dream come true.”
Remarkable record
Dutch showjumpers have been simply superb in recent years. Having narrowly missed out on gold at London 2012, the Netherlands went on to win at last summer’s World Equestrian Games and again this week in Aachen.
Dubbeldam too has a remarkable record, having won Olympic individual gold at Sydney 2000, as well as being crowned World Champion last year in Normandy, and now he is the reigning individual European champion. He is the first rider since Germany’s Hans-Gunter Winkler in the 1950s to claim world, Olympic and European titles.
Brits
Two British riders came into the final with a chance of winning a medal – Joe Clee (Utamaro d’Ecaussines) and Ben Maher (Diva, who held 7 thand 9 thplaces respectively.
The troublesome combination after the water caught both out, however, with Joe adding four faults to his tally and Ben having a second fence down to finish on eight.
Ben then made the decision not to compete in the second round. “I just felt that we weren’t in contention for a medal, she has proved herself as a championship horse and I’d rather keep her for another day,” he said afterwards.
In the second round, Joe had another fence down to slip from ninth place to 15th. “I’m so pleased with his performance, he has really jumped his heart out,” he said of his bay stallion.
“We came here with one goal, the plan was always to qualify for the Olympics. We got this done. But you know, when you come this close and your horse is jumping this well then it’s always disappointing to get so close and then miss out. We narrowly missed out on Friday as a team and it was literally one mistake in each round that cost a medal today. I’m competitive, it’s the way I am, but I’m also aware that there are so many positives that we will take away from this and we can now focus on getting to Rio next year.”
Final results – Individual competition
1. Jeroen Dubbeldam/SFN Zenith N.O.P. (NED)
2. Gregory Wathelet/Conrad de Hus (BEL)
3. Simon Delestre/Ryan des Hayettes (FRA)
4. Penelope Leprevost/Flora de Mariposa (FRA)
5. Jur Vrieling/VDL Zirocco Blue N.O.P. (NED)
Full resultshere