Switzerland make most of France’s errors to win Eventing Nations Cup stage
Rocca di Papa (Italy), May 15 (EFE).- Switzerland won the first stage of the Eventing Nations Cup held this weekend in Pratoni del Vivaro (Rome), after taking advantage of the French team’s errors in the last part of the program, jumping.
The French started the day in the lead after the dressage and cross-country events, but a disappointing performance with two knockdowns -both in double combinations- by European leader Maxime Livio with ‘Api du Libaire’ allowed Swiss rider Robin Godel, paired with ‘Grandeur du Lully’, to finish top of the leaderboard.
Switzerland finished the competition with 94.9 points, to France’s 99.1 points, followed by Sweden in third place (113.6).
In the individual standings, Godel won, beating Livio, who failed to pick up a podium finish and dropped to ninth spot.
Germany’s Ingrid Klimke and ‘Siena just do it’ were second and Frenchman Nicolas Touzaint and ‘Absolut Gold’ were third.
The first stage of the Eventing Nations Cup, which moves onto Houghton Hall (England), was as a rehearsal for the WEG (World Equestrian Games), in which seven spots for the 2024 Paris Olympics are to be decided.
Pratoni del Vivaro, which was the venue for some of the equestrian events at the 1960 Rome Olympics as well as several European and World Championships in eventing, is located in the Castelli Romani Regional Park, which has more than 120 hectares and an altitude of about 500 meters above sea level. EFE
jmp/ea/lap
