Sweden from another planet

The team from Sweden remained untouchable in the team finals. A quantifiable drop in reigning Olympic champions Henrik von Eckermann on King Edward (0 FP), Malin Barriard-Johnson on H&M Indiana (4 FP), Jens Fredriksson on Cosmopolitan (0 FP) and Peder Fredriksson on H&M All In (12 FP). Only, ended up with 7.69 points.

The Netherlands got six more penalty points and took silver with a total of 19.31 points. The Brits took bronze (22.66) after benefitting from some errant rides by an earlier strong French team. The latter had to settle for sixth place (26.44).

European champion theme in the sand

The shock moment of the evening was provided by European champion Andre Thiem, who unceremoniously broke away from his DSP Chakaria on the third jump. It took the German a while to get up from the sand, while his mare galloped away without her rider. Fortunately, nothing should have happened to either of them. The German team finished fifth behind fourth-placed Irish (23.15).

Sweden, Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany and hosts France have now named a team for the Olympic Games in Paris. A happy coincidence for Austria as the European Championship’s fiercest contenders will be eliminated next year.

Show jumpers and their horses now have the day off before the individual finals on Sunday. The top 25 compete in the first round and the all-important second round where only the top twelve couples move on to the deciding second round. The starting shot is at 2pm.

All results are detailed there is Here.