Australian Jodie Mckeone has produced a strong dressage test at the FEI Para Driving World Championship in Lähden, Germany and is placed seventh ahead of Saturday’s marathon phase.
Partnered with Zsolt Demkó’s part Lipizzaner Zeusz, Jodie scored 49.2 in the Grade 1 division.
It’s a great result for Jodie, and a vastly improved dressage score from the 2023 World Championships, where she scored 62.40 with George Bowman Senior’s Royal Walker. On that occasion, Jodie went on to win the marathon phase and produce a strong performance in the cones – ultimately rising from 11th after the dressage to secure a bronze medal.
The start list for Saturday’s marathon will be available here once published.
Defending champion leads
Tracy Bowman of the USA, who is aiming to win her third consecutive Grade 1 title, leads the field on 41.2 – and with the marathon and cones phases to come, just an 8-penalty difference from seventh to first will make for thrilling competition.
Tracy guided her ‘unicorn’ Albrecht’s Hoeve’s Lars, the 16-year-old Welsh gelding, into the top spot on 41.20. In a test that two of the five judges awarded their top marks, Tracy and Lars demonstrated again their trust and professionalism.
But Tracy had to stay composed to follow a delightful test from former champion Jacques Poppen of The Netherlands and his charming horse, Horses2fly Anniek who finished on 42.56. The combination had glided through their test showing high quality trot moments and smooth transitions, and also gained top marks from two of the five judges.
Helping the Dutch team effort, Josien de Boer and Zodie Mijn Grensjuweel brought style to the arena for a consistent test to score 44.96 for third. Josien sits in front of a Para Driving legend, Heiner Lehrter of Germany, who has competed at every World Championship since the series started in 1998 in Wolfsburg, Germany. Although in Lähden as an individual, he has been on the medal-winning German team at each event since then – which makes 13 team medals to date. Driving Maestro’s Nero, Heiner scored 46.32 and goes ahead of the Exloo silver medallist, Patricia Groβerichter of Germany, who is fifth on 47.42.
It was an emotional day for British team member Deborah Daniel as she was the last to go in the class and set about driving her last Dressage test at a World Championship. This is her seventh, and she announced that she would retire from international competition after Lähden. She was rightly proud of her sixth place on 48.96 driving Capitola Mr. Houdini, out of the 17 combinations in the Grade 1 class.
Grade 2
The day opened with the Grade 2 class and for Germany, Alexandra Sievers (formerly Röder) looks set to retain her title with a score of 46.48. Driving her 13-year-old KWPN mare Equistar Lucie H, they produced a smooth test that was the favourite of President of the Jury, Pia Skar of Denmark, who gave it her highest mark of the class. A multi-medallist who won her first world title in 2014 in Sandringham, UK, Alexandra has been a regular fixture on the podium in the team and individual events. She led from the front two years ago at the last FEI Para Driving World Championship in Exloo, The Netherlands, winning all three phases, and has set herself up to do the same in Lähden.
Dutch driver Aad Van Marwijk, who, at 70 is one of the most senior athletes at the event is driving one of the youngest horses, the six-year-old Hijker Forest Colt, a Dutch New Forest. Together they drove a polished test to finish on 48.88 and Aad, who was a bronze medallist in Exloo, may well appear on another podium, a feat he has regularly achieved since 2012 in Breda, The Netherlands.
Representing the host nation as an individual is Germany’s Franz-Josef Melchers and he took third place on 49.20, narrowly in front of Dutch athlete Hans Arends on 49.44. Eleven combinations were in the class and several made their international debut, including Great Britain’s Jennifer Longley and the USA’s Deborah Marcuccilli, who was driving a borrowed horse which belongs to the De Ronde family.
Dutch team in front
In the team event, The Netherlands is in front on 87.52 using Josien and Jacques’ scores and such was the strength of their performances, they could discount another 40s mark from Hans. Tracy’s score was combined with that of her regular teammate and another former medallist, Diane Kastama, who tallied 52.72 in the Grade 1 class to give the team 93.92. However, there is only 0.08 between the USA and Germany who had another set of strong scores to choose from for 94.00. The British are next on 105.44 using Deborah’s and Emily Ham’s marks, followed by Ireland who have a team of two with Emma Golding and Mick Wark and totalled 128.48.
Full draws and results can be found here.
Source: FEI press release by Sarah Dance (edited by EQ Life)
