Triple Gold for Germany’s Sanneke Rothenberger at Inaugural European U25 Championships

Germany’s Sanneke Rothenberger and Deveraux OLD claimed a hat-trick of gold medals at the inaugural FEI European U25 Dressage Championships in Hagen (GER). Photo by FEI/DigiShots.

Hagen, Germany – June 19, 2016 – Germany’s Sanneke Rothenberger stole the show with a hat-trick of gold medals at the inaugural FEI European U25 Dressage Championships, which drew to a close in Hagen (GER) on Sunday. The 23-year-old rider led her country to victory in Friday’s Team competition and then returned to top both Saturday’s Grand Prix and Sunday’s Freestyle classes with her 15-year-old Oldenburg, Deveraux.

Staged at the elegant Hof Kasselmann in Hagen (GER), the event attracted 41 horse-and-rider combinations, including nine teams and eight individual competitors. The flags of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland were flown with pride.

Teams

There was an early indication of the quality of the competition when the German team drop score on Friday was the 72.526 percent posted by Nadine Husenbeth and Florida. Florine Kienbaum and Doktor Schiwago (72.632 percent) and Juliette Piotrowski and Sir Diamond (72.658 percent) were marginally better, but Rothenberger’s massive leading score of 76.737 percent left the result beyond doubt.

The final German tally of 222.026 left them just over four percentage points ahead of The Netherlands’ Maxime Van der Vlist (Bailey), Stephanie Kooyman (Winston), Anne Meulendijks (MDH Avanti) and Danielle Houtvast (Utah) in silver medal spot. Meulendijks posted an impressive 74.421 percent with the 11-year-old KWPN to finish individually second, while Kooyman’s 73.026 percent slotted her into third and seriously boosted her side’s final scoreline of 218.947, which left them more than six points clear of Team Sweden in bronze medal position.

Bo Jena’s Swedish side consisted of Sanna Nilsson (Lennox), Josefin Gyllensward (Don Angelo), Mathilde Hannell (Della Mae) and Marina Mattsson (Beckham), and they pinned Denmark back into fourth place.


Teams from the Netherlands (silver), Germany (gold) and Sweden (bronze) on the podium. Photo by FEI/DigiShots.

Winning chef d’equipe, Germany’s Monica Theodorescu, was delighted, not only with the team result but with each of her rider’s individual performances. “All dreams have come true!” she said after they stood on the top step of the podium.

And German team trainer, Jurgen Koschel, was thrilled with Rothenberger’s performance while also complimenting Piotrowski, Kienbaum and Husenbeth on rising to the challenge. “All three presented their best performances ever – this is extraordinarily good for a championship!” he said.

Rothenberger said that she knew she could rely on Devereaux: “He was in top form and was really fighting with me here in Hagen today.”

The Netherlands’ chef d’equipe, Johan Rocka, said he was “incredibly happy” with his team’s silver medal spot. “Unfortunately one of the girls made a mistake in the pirouette. The performances today are a good basis for the individual medals tomorrow, and we want to launch a real attack!” he added.

Grand Prix

However Kooyman’s fifth place finish would be as good as it would get for the Dutch in Saturday’s Grand Prix, in which Diana Porsche began to shine. Riding Di Sandro, the 20-year-old Austrian earned a mark of 72.535 percent from Ground Jury members Janet Foy, Ghislain Fouarge, Irina Maknami, Magnus Ringmark and Dr. Evi Eisenhardt to finish close behind bronze medallst Juan Matute Guimon from Spain.

Germany ruled the roost once again, with Florine Kienbaum filling silver medal spot behind Rothenberger wearing her second gold medal of the tournament.

There was no doubt in the minds of the Ground Jury about their winner here, all five putting Rothenburger in pole position on a mark of 75.977 percent.

“I think I’ve won more than 17 titles, but I will have to check that again,” said the newly-crowned Grand Prix champion afterwards. In fact she already had 16 championship medals in her trophy cabinet before adding three more this weekend, her haul of loot including seven team and six individual golds accumulated over the 12 championships in which she has competed since 2006.

“My feelings today are impossible to describe – I already won individual and team gold in the Junior and Young Rider division with “Devil” (Deveraux) and now also in the Under 25, which definitively confirms the quality of this fantastic horse!” Rothenberger said.


European U25 individual champions Florine Kienbaum (silver), Sanneke Rothenberger (gold), and Juan Matute Guimon (bronze). Photo by FEI/DigiShots.

Silver medalist Kienbaum said, “The whole competition was so exciting – I am incredibly proud!” Her 12-year-old Hanoverian, Doktor Schwiago (nicknamed i“Mini”), is an enormous black horse who, despite his size, knows exactly how to present a picture of harmony with his rider in the arena.

“There was a lot of tension during the team competition yesterday, and I chose the safe option, so today I wanted to improve our performance,” she explained.

At just 18 years of age, Spain’s Juan Matute Guimon was one of the youngest riders in the Championships, but with four European Junior Championships under his belt and individual gold at last year’s Junior Championships in Vidauban (FRA) already to his credit, he’s not short on experience. After posting 72.558 percent with Don Diego Ymas for bronze medal position, he said, “I am very proud and very grateful. I fully enjoyed the fantastic feeling and atmosphere here in the stadium.”

Freestyle

Rothenberger had already thrown down her marker after her Grand Prix victory when mentioning Saturday that she scored “a little more than 79 percent” last year in the Freestyle at CDIO Hagen, so her opponents were well-prepared.She went on to post 80.45 percent with another fabulous freestyle performance from Deveraux Sunday afternoon, with Kienbaum taking another silver after earning a mark of 77.175 percent.

Matute Guimon had to settle for ninth place Sunday as the Germans took a firm hold at the top of the leaderboard, team gold medalist Nadina Husenbeth and Florida slotting into fourth for the host nation behind Austria’s Diana Porsche whose 76 percent earned the bronze. Porsche and Di Sandro made a big impression with a double of U25 class wins during the Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage 2015/2016 fixture in Salzburg (AUT) last December and enjoyed further success at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival earlier this year on the road to Hagen.

But it is Germany’s Rothenberger who will go into the history books after grabbing a great deal of the glory and shining a bright light into the future at the first ever FEI European U25 Dressage Championships.

Results: FEI European U25 Championships

Team Championship
Gold
– Germany 222.026 – Doktor Schiwago 3 (Florine Kienbaum) 72.362, Sir Diamond (Juliette Piotrowski) 72.658, Florida 94 (Nadine Husenbeth) 72.526, Devereux OLD (Sanneke Rothenberger) 76.737
Silver – Netherlands 218.947 – Bailey (Maxime van der Vlist) 68.789, Winston (Stephanie Kooyman) 73.026, MDH Avanti (Anne Meuldndijks) 74.421, Utah (Danielle Houtvast) 71.500
Bronze – Sweden 212.711 – Lennox (Sanna Nilsson) 64.289, Don Angelo (Josefin Gyllensward) 71.895, Deela Mae (Mathilde Hannell) 69.079, Beckham (Marina Mattsson) 71.737.

Grand Prix
Gold – Deveraux OLD (Sanneke Rothenberger) GER 75.977
Silver – Doctor Schiwago (Florine Kienbaum) GER 73.116
Bronze – Don Diego Ymas (Juan Matute Guimon) ESP 72.558

Freestyle
Gold
– Deveraux OLD (Sanneke Rothenberger) GER 80.450
Silver – Doctor Schiwago 3 (Florine Kieinbaum) GER 77.175
Bronze – Di Sandro (Diana Porsche) AUT 76.000

No Comments Yet

Comments are closed