All 41 horses presented at the final horse inspection at the Agria FEI Eventing European Championships passed with flying colours and will go forward to the show jumping finale for the medals.
Special mention was made of some of the great cross-country rounds from yesterday, not only the outstanding top three – Laura Collett (GBR), Michael Jung (GER) and Tom McEwen (GBR) – but also Switzerland’s Nadja Minder for her bold, trailblazing performance, German individual Calvin Böckmann (fourth), the youngest rider at 24 and the fastest, and Turkish history-maker Kumru (Kuki) Say, who jumped clear at her first senior championship and is in 38th place.
Sixteen nations will be represented, and five teams: Germany, the overnight leaders for team gold, Ireland, in silver medal position, Switzerland (bronze), France and Austria.
One horse was withdrawn overnight, Italy’s Duke of Champions, ridden by Giovanni Ugolotti.
The show jumping for lower placed riders will start at 11am; the rest will jump at 2pm in what is sure to be a thrilling medal decider. Although Germany has a comfortable margin to clinch team gold, the battle for silver and gold, and individual glory, will be a tense and closely fought battle.
Meanwhile, competitors in the GFS Saddles 8 and 9 year old CCI4*-S will be going cross-country from 9.30am, with the top 16 running in reverse order of merit.
