The Australian Vaulting squad during their Freestyle test. © Elli Birch – Boots and Hooves Photography
By Equestrian Life
It was Freestyle day on Monday for the Vaulters at the FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark.
The Freestyle routines are set to music and allow the vaulters to express their individual creativity, resulting in a fantastic display as each vaulters strives to set themselves apart from the rest.
For Australia, Stephanie Dore showcased a beautiful Freestyle routine to finish with a very strong score of 7.455, partnered by Qiun af Oesterholm (aka ‘Hopsy’) and lunged by Nanna Klinge. The trio has only been working together for 4 weeks!
Steph said that her Freestyle routine was inspired by Kate Miller Heidke.
“She competed at Eurovision with the song I just competed with. I based my outfit off her costume and the routine is about that feeling of lightness after that bit of a hard time,” said Stephanie to Equestrian Australia.
“It is just as important to have a good relationship with your horse and your lunger, because at the end of the day it is your horse and your lunger making the circles and I have to make sure I am in sync with them. Nanna just does an incredible job with Hopsy.”
Australia’s Ginger Kennett has just completed her very first FEI World Championships.
In her Freestyle routine with the massive grey Corazon Gran (lunged by Maurits De Vries), Ginger collected an impressive score of 6.926.
Speaking to Equestrian Australia following her test, Ginger said, “My Freestyle was set to Spanish music. I fell in love with the song. It is about love and it gets me into the zone of acting to the music. It brings the emotion out.”
Ginger’s talent with horses also extends beyond the vaulting circle, as she also competes at CCN2* level.
“I also do two star eventing. The vaulting definitely helps in my eventing. Especially on cross-country, it really helps with the balance.”
See the full results for the Individual Female Freestyle here.
The Australian Vaulting Squad also performed their Freestyle on Monday in the Jyske Bank Boxen arena.
The team looked stunning as they performed the challenging routine aboard the chestnut horse Gozer, lunged by Christine Ender. The Squad collected a score of 6.541 and finished with a combined score of 5.910.
The theme for the routine was Mother Nature, and how nature connects us all.
The Australian Squad vaulters are all making their FEI World Championships debut, they are: Eloise Tate, Lydia George, Poppy Loveland, Sabine Osmotherly, Willow Vitu, and Zoe Caddis.
See the full results for the Squad Freestyle here.
An historic end of an era for France
By Joanne Eccles
It was goosebumps galore Monday in the finals of the Mustang FEI Vaulting World Championships 2022 in Herning (DEN). Double gold for France in the Individual categories and a repeat success for the team from Germany matching their 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games™ gold medal in the squad competition.
Manon Moutinho on Saitiri. © FEI/Richard Juilliart
Things started to heat up as Kimberly Palmer entered the Boxen arena. Her portrayal of Tonya Harding earned a score of 8.701 and an overall fifth place finish for the USA native. With tensions running high, Averill Saunders (CAN) slipped off the horse and dropped out of medal contention allowing Sheena Bendixen to rise to the occasion and win the bronze medal for the home nation (8.511). The silver went to Germany’s Julia Sophie Wagner, competing with her Mum on the end of the lunge she kept a cool head in her first major final (8.529). It had been nineteen years since any female medal went home to France and even then, it was the bronze, but history was made today by Manon Moutinho, 9.296 for her final free test, a step above the rest winning the gold medal on a final score of 8.963. “I’m really happy for my country, it’s good to show that French girls can do it too.”
In a class of his own Lambert Leclezio (FRA) won his fourth World title, once again breaking records with a combined score of 9.399 he described this as his best World Championship win. He will retire after the Nations team final.
Lambert Leclezio on Estado Ifce, Individual Male Gold medallist at Herning 2022. © FEI / Richard Juilliart
Continuing the success for France, Quentin Jabet took the silver medal on 8.837. His horse, Ronaldo 200, briefly dropped into trot right before the end of his test however he stood firm and finished off what was an incredible programme. Jannik Heiland, (GER) steady, soft and strong aboard Dark Beluga completed the Men’s podium (8.833).
A technical problem with the computer gave Sam dos Santos (NED) a tortuous wait in the arena for his music. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to unnerve him, but he couldn’t quite hold on to his overnight third, he finished the competition in fifth, 8.720, an impressive feat at a mere sixteen years of age.
With three medals already firmly around French necks, the squad final got underway. The atmosphere building in the arena proved too much for the Austrian team horse leaving Switzerland free to collect the bronze medal (8.279). Team Germany was second to last to compete performing almost flawlessly on top of Calidor 10, Patric Looser working hard from the center. It was a big score, 9.063, and a tough act to follow for the already well decorated French vaulters. A few small errors were all that made the difference and gave the final gold of the day to the Germans (8.614) marginally ahead of France (8.549).
Team Germany – Norka des VV Köln-Dünwald. © FEI / Richard Juilliart
Two gold medals remain to be won on Wednesday. First, we will see the completion of the Pas de Deux class and a high probability of a German top two, the third place remains quite open.
Finishing third in the squad freestyle round and fourth overall Denmark has high hopes for the Nations team competition where we will see two individuals and one squad from the top eight nations battle it out for the final medal. It will be a Germany vs France showdown to top the medal table.
You can watch all the action from the FEI World Championships in Herning via Clip My Horse TV.
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