Gold for Germany, silver for USA and bronze for New Zealand in the teams event at the 2022 FEI World Eventing Championships, Praton.

© Michelle Terlato Photography

Germany claims team gold at the FEI Eventing World Championships 2022, Great Britain's Yasmin Ingham wins the individual title

By Equestrian Life

It was a thrilling final day of showjumping action at the FEI Eventing World Championships in Pratoni, with just 12 combinations jumping clear of penalties and a nail-biting finish to determine the individual and team medals.

Germany maintained their lead in the team competition to take gold, yet it was far from smooth sailing as Teams USA, Great Britain and New Zealand kept pressure on the leaders throughout. Italian course designer Uliano Vezzani’s 13-fence jumping track caused plenty of excitement and caught out several top riders; 2014 World Champion Sandra Auffarth had 3 uncharacteristic rails with Viamant du Matz, World Number 1 Oliver Townend had 4 rails with Ballaghmor Class, and Americans Tamra Smith and Boyd Martin dropped out of individual medal contention by collecting 8 and 16 penalties respectively.

By the time Michael Jung and fischerChimpmunk FRH entered the arena as the final rider in the competition, he had a rail in hand to take individual gold, and 3 rails in hand to secure team gold for Germany. Double gold looked to be in the bag until the pair took the first element of the double at fence 11; when the final fence fell too, 25-year-old Yasmin Ingham – who had just produced a brilliant clear round as the penultimate competitor with Banzai du Loir – buried her face in her hands with shock and delight at the realisation she was the 2022 Eventing World Champion.

Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir, 2022 World Eventing Champions.

© Michelle Terlato Photography

Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir’s winning score of 23.2 was 2.8 penalties clear of Germany’s Tokyo Olympic gold medal winning combination of Julia Krajewski and Amande de B’Neville, while New Zealander Tim Price was just 0.2 penalties behind to claim individual bronze with Falco.

Individual gold for Yasmin Ingham, silver for Julia Krajewski, and bronze for Tim Price.

© Michelle Terlato Photography

The team tallies told a similar story of how close the scores were; Germany’s winning total of 95.2 was 5.1 penalties ahead of the USA, who claimed their first world championship team podium finish since 2002 with 100.3 penalties. New Zealand finished just 0.4 penalties behind to take the bronze team medal, while dressage leaders Great Britain just missed out on a podium finish, 0.2 penalties behind in 4th place. To have less than 1 penalty separating 2nd, 3rd and 4th position in a teams event is quite remarkable!

Shane Rose and Virgil, best of the Australians in 13th position.

© Michelle Terlato Photography

Australia finished in 10th position in the teams competition, while Shane Rose and the evergreen Virgil produced a superb showjumping round with just one rail down to finish the event as the highest placed Australian in the individual rankings. Their finishing score of 38.3 penalties saw them climb the rankings from 40th place after the dressage phase to a very creditable 13th place after the showjumping.

Shenae Lowings and Bold Venture, individual competitors for Australia.

© Michelle Terlato Photography

Shenae Lowings and Bold Venture had 3 rails to finish in 29th place on 47.1 penalties in their international debut as individual representatives for Australia, while Hazel Shannon and 17-year-old WillingaPark Clifford had 4 rails to finish the championships in 39th place on 61.5 penalties.

Kevin McNab riding Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam and Andrew Hoy riding Vassily de Lassos produced polished rounds, each picking up just 4 faults, to finish in 47th and 54th place respectively.

Click HERE for the final results.

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