Vaulting

It was a close competition between the Nations Cup teams Germany I and Germany II in the Prize of Sparkasse! And not just because the thermometer showed 30 degrees in the shade, but above all because two teams battled it out at eye level. Diana Harwardt and Peter Künne on the other hand pretty much won the pair vaulting hands down in the Prize of Sparkasse.

At 2 p.m. not only the summer had reached a new highlight at the Soers, but also the mood in the sold-out Albert-Vahle Arena. The Nations Cup in the Prize of Sparkasse was on the  agenda. Eight teams, each comprising of two individual vaulters and a group, took part. Germany II and Germany I were the clear favourites and they were the last team to go.

German II competed first. Julian Wilfling and Jannik Heiland, the two individual vaulters delivered the second and fourth best results among the individuals. Then, it was the group’s turn, VV Ingelsberg with its motto “As long as it goes bang”. And it did. They performed one highlight after the other and took that many risks that the crowd sometimes held its breath. A super performance that was even better than the group’s result the day before. The lunger, Alexander Hartl, said her horse Fider Rock had been a little more nervous the day before. “Aachen is something really special for the horses too!” Today he is a lot more relaxed. Hartl’s conclusion: “I think all our performances lived up to the expectations.” Germany II went into the lead.

Then came Kathrin Meyer for Germany I, the first time yesterday’s winner of the Ladies classification in the Prize of Sparkasse had the honour of taking part in the Nations Cup as an individual vaulter. It is good to have a team one can rely on in such moments. And Kathrin certainly has that in the shape of her mother Sonja holding the lunge and her four-legged partner, San Classico, who they both jointly schooled themselves. She performed a flawless routine again today. However, with a score of 8.454 she didn’t match that of the two individual vaulters of Germany II. So, it was still an open race. The next to go was Viktor Brüsewitz, who except for a small wobbler repeated his sensational freestyle performance of yesterday and was rewarded with the high score of 8.762.

So it was all down to group Norka from VV Köln-Dünnwald. They are used to winning, they claimed the World Championship title last year. Whereby they do have a lot of new team members this year, but that didn’t affect their performance at all. With a score of 8.987 they went into the lead ahead of VV Ingelsberg and sealed the victory of Germany I with a total score of 26.203, Germany II finished second on 25.828 points.

Third place went to the Netherlands with 24.025 points thanks to the fantastic performances of the just 17-year-old Sam Dos Santos (8.484), Annebeth Kubbe with Evermore R (7.761) and the Gruppe VV de Wittegheit with Wim, lunged by Meta Jans.

Convincing win for Harwardt and Künne in the Pas de Deux

The first winners on the first CHIO Sunday had already been decided in the morning: Diana Harwardt and Peter Künne with DSP Sir Lau Lau, lunged by Hendrik Falk in the Pas de Deux of the Prize of  Sparkasse. They came second at the World Championships in 2022 as well as at the World Cup Finals in 2023 and they have also come under the top three in the Prize of Sparkasse at the CHIO Aachen. However, they haven’t yet succeeded in claiming the victory. That changed this weekend. With two victories in the two competitions, where they were the only duo that received a score over 8, nobody was able to take the overall victory away from them. Their overall score: 8.558. “It is of course a long-awaited dream,” said Peter Künne. “All of the training of the last years has paid off. We have been a team for seven years now. That’s wonderful, of course! Winning Aachen is every vaulter’s dream,” he exclaimed also on behalf of his vaulting partner. Seven years à approx. 20 hours a week training, that means 7,840 hours of training before finally achieving today’s triumph.

Second place went to Switzerland to Ilona Hannich and Li Laffer with Gitano des Monods (Lunger: Alana Sohm) on a score of 7.920. The Austrian duo, Eva Nagiller and Romana Hintner, came third on Idefix, lunged by Klaus Haidacher (7,657).

Conclusion of the national coach

Kai Vorberg has already been the co-trainer in Aachen several times already, but this year was the first time that he took on the role of the national coach. He said it had been totally different than he had expected: “There was the odd minute yesterday, when I thought I was the loneliest person on the grounds.” After all, he had to make some difficult decisions. “You can’t do everyone justice and take a fair, well-informed decision in 45 seconds.” But regarding the sport his heart-felt comment was: “Even if the German national anthem wasn’t played once (in the individual classification of the men, editor’s note), and we’ll work on that, I am totally satisfied with the overall performance of the German team!”

The vaulters from Cologne don’t stop winning, Kathrin Meyer is experiencing a streak of good luck and Quentin Jabet came, saw and conquered – that is the summary of the Saturday in the Prize of the Sparkasse in the vaulting circle of the CHIO Aachen 2023.

In 2022, Team Norka from VV Köln-Dünnwald was victorious in the Prize of the Sparkasse at the CHIO Aachen with Calidor. The same was true in 2023. Albeit with a different line-up for both the vaulters and the lunger. Ines Nawroth was at the end of the lunge line for the first time instead of Patric Looser. She is already used to the feeling of standing in the middle of the circle in Aachen, but until now she had always lunged athletes from abroad. She was thus all the more delighted after today’s triumph with “her” team: “To run in here as the last group for Germany, is something quite different!” Especially when one puts in such a performance and is rewarded with the applause of Aachen’s crowd. The vaulters from Cologne were in a class of their own, both yesterday during the compulsory test as well as today in the freestyle. They achieved an overall score of 8.397. That meant they had a comfortable lead over the second German team, VV Ingelsberg with Fider Rock, who was lunged by Alexander Hartl. Their overall score was 7.983. Third place went to the Swiss bronze medal winners of last year’s World Championships with Acardi van de Kapel, lunged by Monika Winkler (7.888).

There was a special award for today’s winning horse, Calidor. The readers of the trade magazine, Reiter Revue, had voted the 14-year-old Holstein horse by Calido as “Horse of the Year”. He was presented with the distinction in the company of all the successful athletes who have vaulted to medals and cups on his back over the course of the years.

Kathrin’s childhood dream

Decision in the Ladies classification of the Prize of the Sparkasse 2023, three German vaulters in the lead in the interim results, two already with a German Championship title in their pockets, one of them the current World Cup winner. The latter, Kathrin Meyer, headed the field after the compulsory and technical tests, Alina Roß, the German Champion of 2021 followed in second place.

The German Champions of 2022, Julia Sophie Wagner and Giovanni, lunged by Katja Wagner, was the first to go of the three leaders. She put in a solid performance that was rewarded with the fourth best freestyle score of 8.363. Her final score was thus 8.229.

Then, it was Alina Roß’s turn with Baron R, lunged by her father Volker. She got off to a good start. Her freestyle routine contains a lot of difficult moves that she vaulted through skilfully and elegantly. Then, all of a sudden she lost her grip and had to leave the horse’s back in the middle of her routine. A huge error even if the rest of the choreography went smoothly. And because everything else went perfectly, she was still awarded a score of 8.193 in the freestyle.

The next to go was Kathrin Meyer, with her first title in Aachen almost in reach. And she certainly came up trumps! She received a score of 8.816 for her freestyle. Together with the score for the compulsory and the technical that made an overall score of 8.584. That easily put her into the lead ahead of Julia Sophie Wagner with Giovanni and the unlucky Alina Roß, whose final score was 8.174.

As she realised that she had won, Kathrin Meyer ran out of the competition arena and into the warm-up hall, awaited eagerly by her former team members from the time when she vaulted in the group. They hugged each other, with tears in their eyes. “My World Cup victory and now Aachen, you can’t compare that to anything else,” she said later. “I never even thought about the World Cup before. But Aachen – that is simply a childhood dream!” She was correspondingly overjoyed. Even though she had already won here twice in the past with the group. But today’s victory was hers alone. And of course her mother Sonja’s and that of San Classico S. The three of them are a well-versed trio. “We have had him for ten years,” explained Kathrin. “Mum and I schooled him together with the help of Kai and Nina Vorberg. Even if he perhaps looks difficult for outsiders, I know I can depend on him. I know how he reacts in every situation, because we have known each other for so long.” “When she says schooled she doesn’t just mean as a vaulting horse, incidentally. San Classico does piaffe and passage and has achieved good placings at medium level dressage, Kathrin’s mother, Sonja, reported. She is a dressage rider. When she sent her daughter to vaulting lessons at the age of four, it was intended to be an introduction to riding. However, she hadn’t reckoned on Kathrin choosing vaulting as her preferred sport. Today she is glad about it: “Otherwise we wouldn’t experience days like this!”

Race to catch up à la francaise

The outcome of the Men’s classification in the Prize of the Sparkasse – Quentin Jabet came (from France), saw (“This is like a World Championships here!”) and conquered (“It is incredible!”). Although the Vice World Champion of 2022 only came ninth in the first competition, the compulsory test. “It didn’t start off very well…,” the 22-year-old admitted. That all turned around fast though. He scored the highest mark already in the technical test, which meant he had already worked his way up into second place in the interim result. So, by all accounts the freestyle was going to be exciting. And it was. Quentin put in a fantastic performance with his Ronaldo, lunged by Andrea Boe. With an incredible lightness, in perfect synchronisation with the music, he vaulted through his routine from start to finish flawlessly. The motto of his choreography? “Mmh, actually I haven’t got a proper one. It is a sort of dance and people are to make their own interpretation of it.” Simply true art that was rewarded with a score of 8.914. That brought his total score to 8.621.

Whether that would suffice for the victory? Thomas Brüsewitz, four-time winner of the Prize of the Sparkasse and the current leader was the next to go. The 29-year-old’s freestyle routine ran smoothly until just before the end. Then, he slipped from the croup of Formel 1 D.C. while trying to push himself away. An expensive mistake. After finishing tenth in the freestyle, he slid down into fourth place in the overall classification.

That allowed two other vaulters to move up in the rankings, on the one hand the Dutch vaulter, Sam Dos Santos with Chameur, lunged by Rian Pierik. It was clear from the start that the 17-year-old had good chances. He came fifth at the World Championships in 2022 and second in the World Cup Finals in 2023. However, here in Aachen he “only” ranked fifth in the field of 15 participants after the compulsory and technical tests. However, thanks to coming third in the freestyle after a very good performance, he ultimately finished second in the overall classification with a total score of 8.466.

The other vaulter who catapulted himself under the top three with a super freestyle test was the 33-year-old Viktor Brüsewitz, Thomas Brüsewitz‘s elder brother. It is his final performance here in Aachen. He had choreographed his routine accordingly with an own-recorded text to music, explaining what the sport had given him over the years and expressing his gratitude for everything it had enabled him to achieve. The freestyle routine was not only emotional, it was really good too! Only 0.003 points separated him from the winner’s freestyle score. This enabled him to work his way up into third place in the overall classification of the Prize of the Sparkasse. In the run-up to the show he had stated that he would like to demonstrate his skills onelast time in Aachen, but that he wasn’t sure if he would succeed. Well, he certainly did!

Together they claimed the titles as World Champions, European Champions, German Champions and World Cup winners. Today, the pas de deux dream team, Chiara Congia and Justin van Gerven, officially retired from competition sport at the CHIO Aachen.

And ultimately tears were shed. As the highlights of their joint career flickered over the large screen, Justin van Gerven held “his” Chiara tightly in his arms – obviously realising that this moment at the CHIO Aachen really is the last one, when the two of them will be celebrated by an international audience. And there were many such moments in the career of Justin van Gerven (27) and Chiara Congia (25). Elegant, in perfect harmony and goosebumps guaranteed: No pair has dominated the pas de deux sport over the past years as much as the two German vaulters. Regardless of where in the world they ran into the arena, they fascinated and captivated both the spectators and the judges with their expression and precision – most recently with their freestyle routine to the song “Black Magic Woman”, which they won gold with at the World Championships in Herning, Denmark in 2022 as well as taking the victory at the World Cup Finals in Omaha (USA) this spring. “We had many great years, many fantastic experiences, which I am very grateful for,” stated Justin van Gerven. “It is extremely hard to say farewell.“ And also Chiara Congia, whom the national coach, Ulla Ramge, described as have a fascinating aura and a wonderful athleticism in her laudation, was also very moved by this last, sporting moment. “We had a very special connection on the horse, which I will miss dearly.”

The two so successful athletes will however remain loyal to the vaulting sport and the horses. “We ourselves are looking forward to having a bit of free time and are convinced that the team in Cologne will continue to be very strong,” was the unanimous opinion of the pair, who were presented flowers and presents by the Vice President of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein, Frank Kemperman. The mascot Paddington also gave them a big hug and there were standing ovations from the crowd during their final joint lap of honour.

THE CHIO AACHEN 2023 KICKS OFF WITH THE VAULTERS IN THE PRIZE OF SPARKASSE. AFTER THE FIRST COMPETITIONS GERMANY HEADS THE FIELD IN ALL THREE CLASSIFICATIONS.

The compulsory and technical tests were on the agenda for the ladies and the men today. The concluding and decisive competition, the freestyle, will take place on Saturday.

In the men’s classification, it looks like Thomas Brüsewitz may be on the way to his fifth overall victory. The 29-year-old from Cologne was unbeaten from 2016 until 2019. Today, lunged by Alexandra Knauf, he vaulted into the lead on Formel 1 D.C. with a score of 8.593. He won the compulsory test, but only came second in the technical test behind the Vice World Champion of 2022, the French vaulter, Quentin Jabet on Ronaldo (Lunger: Andrea Boe). Finishing only ninth in the compulsory test, the latter did however demonstrate how good he is in the technical test. His interim overall score is 8.328. So, the freestyle promises  to be exciting – Jannik Heiland, who is currently lying in third place, also still has high hopes of one of the top placings. Heiland came to Aachen as winner of the World Cup, he came second in the compulsory test as well as fourth in the technical test and is close at Jabet’s heels on a score of 8.309. He brought his long-standing, highly successful horse Dark Beluga FRH and his lunger Barbara Rosiny with him.

The top trio of the Ladies is proving that vaulting is a family affair. The current World Cup leader, Kathrin Meyer, who also came fourth at the World Championships, is presently in the lead. At her side: The Oldenburg-bred San Classico S and her mother, Sonja Meyer. The 22-year-old came second in the compulsory test with a score of 8.353. Lunged by her father Volker Roß, her fellow countrywoman, Alina Roß, is close at Kathrin Meyer’s heels. In the technical test, Roß made a few unfortunate mistakes and thus only finished fourth on an overall interim score of 8.153. So, it also promises to be an exciting freestyle here too! A further mother and daughter team is currently lying in third place: Lunged by her mother Katja, Julia Sophie Wagner vaulted to a score of 8.092 on Giovanni. She came third in both competitions.

In the Group classification, Team Norka VV Köln Dünnwald won the compulsory test on Calidor, lunged by Ines Nawroth. They are the overnight leaders on a score of 7.651, ahead of VV Ingelsberg with Fider Rock, lunged by Alexander Hartl. The Swiss team Lütisburg with Acardi van de Kapel (Lunger: Monika Winkler-Bischofsberger) is presently third on a score of 7.506. The final decision in the Group classification will also fall on Saturday after the freestyle competition.