Ingrid Klimke shining with gold in Luhmühlen

Germany’s Ingrid Klimke thrilled her home crowd by conjuring a faultless Jumping round from her wonderful horse SAP Hale Bob OLD. With her amazing performance, she won both the team title for Germany as well as her second successive individual gold medal at the Longines FEI European Championships at Luhmühlen.
She is the fifth rider in the 66-year history of the Europeans to win back-to-back titles, following Britain’s Lucinda Green (1975, 1977), Ginny Eliot (1985, 1987, 1989), Pippa Funnell (1999, 2001) and Michael Jung (2011, 2013, 2015) and the second to do it on the same horse, following Funnell’s triumphs on Supreme Rock. “I definitely came here to win for sure. It was so close, but this year the luck was with me,” Ingrid Klimke. “It’s really special knowing that there are so many very quality riders and horses”. The champion paid tribute to her long-time Jumping trainer Kurt Gravemeier, who came to walk the course with her, and said that this victory for Germany would be “a positive wind” for the Tokyo Olympic Games next year.

Germany’s team gold, their fourth European title since the country’s dazzling run of success began at Luhmühlen in 2011, was never really in doubt with their comfortable three-fence margin after Cross Country, but the fight for silver and bronze medals became an intriguing game of snakes and ladders as team fortunes ebbed and flowed over what was a relatively straightforward Jumping track.
As for Great Britain, they just managed to hold onto team silver as Oliver Townend (Cooley Master Class SRS, ninth), Piggy French (Quarrycrest Echo, 15th) and Pippa Funnell (Majas Hope, 22nd) each clocked up four faults. Townend, for whom it was a personal best team performance, did well to recover his composure after Cooley Master Class got too close to the planks at eight and crashed through the fence.
Sweden, silver medallists in 2017, were the beneficiaries of a titanic struggle for the team bronze medal, securing qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo next year in the best possible style with superb clear rounds from Ludwig Svennerstal (El Kazir SP, eighth), Louise Romeike (Wakiki 207, 12th) and Ebba Adnervik (Chippieh, 23rd).

 France’s grasp on the bronze medal was already precarious when Alexis Goury withdrew Trompe l’Oeul d’Emery at this morning’s horse inspection. The 2003 and 2007 European champion Nicolas Touzaint put France back in the hunt with a magnificent clear round on Absolut Gold HCD, but medal success hinged on Lt Col Thibaut Vallette delivering a clear round. Unfortunately Qing de Briot hit the fifth fence, putting paid to both France’s team and his own individual medal chances by frustratingly small margins.

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