France, Switzerland take control of Eventing Nations Cup standings

Rocca di Papa (Italy), May 14 (EFE).- A day after Germany demonstrated its talent in dressage, France and Switzerland dazzled the crowd on Saturday during the cross country event to take control of the initial stage of the Eventing Nations Cup being held this weekend at the Pratoni del Vivaro in Rome.

The current number one in the Southwest Europe division, Frenchman Maxime Livio together with ‘Api du Libaire’, helped the French team take first place in the competition, accompanied by a good performance by teammate and Olympic medalist Nicolas Touzaint with ‘Absolute Gold’.

Switzerland is in second position thanks to the winner of the day, Robin Godel and his horse ‘Grandeur de Lully’, with a time of 6 minutes and 13 seconds -the limit of the course was set at 6:14-, which also puts him at the head of the individual classification.

On the outskirts of the Italian capital, lady and gentleman riders disputed the demanding cross-country over uneven terrain and a post, number seven, with a double corner jump that complicated the performance of several competitors.

Precisely at that spot, Germany’s Anna Siemer suffered a fall with ‘Butts Avondale’, which means that together with the withdrawal of Ingrid Klimke because of a foot injury to ‘Hale Bob Old’, Germany went from first place to last with a thousand penalty points.

Klimke competes this weekend with two binomials and was in first with ‘Siena just do it’ until getting 5.2 penalty points for excess time dropped her to third (27.9), behind Godel (26) and Livio (27.4).

The first stage of the Nations Cup, organized by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), ends on Sunday at Pratoni del Vivaro with the show jumping event. EFE

jmp/og/jrh