It was a promising start yesterday (August 20) for the British vaulting squad who are making their senior championship debut at the Europeans in Aachen.
Super score
The six-strong team of young riders put in an impressive performance in the first round to score 6.348 – good enough for eighth on the leader board after round one.
The squad, consisting of Andrew McLachlan, Hannah Young, Rebecca Norval, Harry Cox, Lisa Mercer and Kerri Brylka rode John and Jane Eccles’ horse Tylers Kernal, lunged by John Eccles.
Speaking after their test British chef d’equipe Ann Rogerson said she was “very happy” with her team.
“They are quite a young team, this is their first year in seniors, it’s their first year on this stage and I think they did a really good job,” she added. “It’s a big arena it’s a big difference even from the championships that they have done already.”
Germany lay down the gauntlet
The German vaulting squad – who are favourites to win and five time world and European gold medallists – laid down the gauntlet in the first day of the competition yesterday.
The group from RSV Neuss-Grimlinghausen took an early lead with a score of 7.701, closely followed by the Swiss on 7.696 and Austria with 7.540.
Those scores will be combined with two group freestyle rounds to determine who takes home a medal.
German team trainer Jessica Lichtenberg was thrilled with her vaulters and was looking forward to performing a spectacular freestyle this evening.
“It was very strenuous in the arena,” she said. “It wasn’t an easy task. It was hard work.But we fought hard – the team, the horse and myself.
“We want to get the hall rocking in the freestyle competition and really perform a spectacular freestyle.”
Individual performances
The Germans also led the way in the female individual compulsory competition with Corinna Knauf scoring 8.333 on Fabiola W, lunged by Alexandra Knauf.
Viktor Brüsewitz also secured the lead in the male individual contest with a score of 8.496.
First to go for the Brits was Warwickshire’s Lucy Phillips lunged by her mum Liz, who delighted the crowd with a strong performance which earnt a score of 7.201 with Puticelli.
Hannah Young and Hannah Eccles were next – both riding John and Jane Eccles’ WH Bentley. First up and lunged by dad John, Hannah Eccles produced a very good test to score 7.351.
She said afterwards: “The hardest one is always the compulsory so to have that over and done and it to not go too bad, I’m really happy with that. We’re here for a really good time, for me we were so focussed on WEG last year and I’m not doing pairs anymore so it’s great to be here and compete in this arena.”
Up-and-coming vaulter Hannah Young also made a great senior individual debut to score 6.798.
In the male compulsory section Scot Andrew McLachlan made a great start to his campaign scoring 7.347 with Tylers Kernal.
Today will see the Squad, Pas de Deux and Individual Male and Female vaulters competing in the freestyle test.