2009 FEI World Pairs Driving Championship
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
DUTCH IN THE LEAD AT KECSKEMET
Mieke van Tergouw, the 1995 World Champion lady driver from The Netherlands, won the dressage, ahead of Switzerland’s Beat Schenk and Sebastian Warneck of Germany. The Netherlands is in the lead in the team standings, followed by host nation Hungary, Germany and the USA.
Venue
The football stadium in Kecskemét, Hungary, home base of the Kecskemét football team, provided the backdrop for the dressage competition of the 13th FEI World Pairs Driving Championships, which took place on Thursday and Friday.
Competition
Warneck, who won the dressage at the 2007 World Championships in Warka, was in the lead after the first dressage day. Warneck competed with the same successful pair, the Dutch warm blood geldings Condor S and Wallegro. The reigning German Pair Champion was able to enjoy his overnight success, but got beaten by today’s second starter Beat Schenk. Schenk, who is a professional carriage-driving teacher, performed a very expressive test with his pair of Bavarian and Dutch warm blood horses. But the six time National Champion only remained in the lead for a short while until Mieke van Tergouw entered the arena. Van Tergouw, who is representing The Netherlands for the eighth time at a World Pair Championship, impressed the judges with her pair of KWPN geldings Lord and Talos. Van Tergouw was very concentrated and put down a well driven test. The winner of the dressage at the international show at her home base in Beekbergen this year took over the lead from Schenk with 1,5 penalty points.
Title defender Vilmos Lázár and his younger brother Zoltán, who are both on the very popular Hungarian team, placed fourth and fifth respectively.
Disadvantage
Third team member for Hungary Zsolt Selyben started the Championship with a disadvantage after one of his horses was eliminated in dressage. Also, horses of Austrian driver Fritz Stenitzer, Danish competitor Hans-Henrik Nielsen, Switzerland’s Daniel Wütrich, Miroslav Matuska from Slovakia and Zsolt Selyben from Hungary, all team members for their nation, were declared ‘not fit to compete’ by the veterinarians during the first horse inspection on Wednesday. For competitor Edwin Bryson the horse inspection meant the end of the competition. The Irishman had travelled to Kecskemét with only two horses, one of which was eliminated.
Brain test
Course designer Christian Iseli is looking forward to the marathon, “The course is a true World Championship course. It was my goal to give the drivers a brain test. The different possibilities in the obstacles are technically demanding and can be described as heavy. The water obstacle is a small exception to this; the footing is very good which allows the competitors to drive fast.
To ensure the welfare of the horses and taking the expected high temperatures into consideration, I built a course, which demands a lot of the drivers beforehand. The victory and the best marathon drives will also be decided during the course walk. The marathon will be won by a top fit pair of horses with a competitor that drives a very well thought-through marathon.”
Results dressage & individual standings:
- Mieke van Tergouw (NED) 38,66
- Beat Schenk (SUI) 40,19
- Sebastian Warneck (GER) 41,98
- Vilmos Lázár (HUN) 42,62
- Zoltán Lázár (HUN) 45,57
Standings nations competition after dressage:
- The Netherlands 86,0
- Hungary 88,2
- Germany 94,6
- USA 94,7
- Switzerland 100,2
Filed Under
Driving Trials
