Victory in the CHIO Nations Cup
The national team celebrates a coup in Aachen
06/30/2022, 10:48 PM
At CHIO in Aachen, the German players braved the occasional torrential rain and a massive 20-degree drop in temperature and won the traditional Nations Cup for the first time since 2018. The hosts were already ahead after the first round.
Even before the last rider André Thieme ride, which he then gave up, the German team won the CHIO traditional showjumping event. Led by the European champions, the national team won under the floodlights in Aachen. The quartet around the Blau am See rider with his mare Shakaria conceded just one penalty point in the pouring rain at Aachen.
“I wasn’t sure, she never went to Aachen,” said Tim after the first round with his golden mare, which he completed without a single mistake. “She is what she is, she is a fighter – and she fights for me,” the jockey from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was excited. He was “very happy that things are going well here”. He didn’t have to compete in the second round. When Belgium’s last rider Gregory Wathelet crossed a pole, the homers were the winners.
“The team put in very strong laps”
The quartet also included hosts Christian Kucock with Mumbai, Jan-Friedrich Mayer-Zimmermann with Messi and Belgium-based Jana Wargers with Limbridge. The four pairs rode the CHIO team for the first time. Last year, the host team finished sixth. “Our team made very strong rides, and in the end it all worked out,” Wargers said over the WDR microphone. “You always have to believe in this anyway,” Kocock said. “I was sure we’d deliver and thought we’d have a drink later.” Thieme “was hoping for it too much, but if you hope for something too much, it often doesn’t.”
Kukuk’s first round appearance was unfortunate. The rider from Riesenbeck received eight penalty points with Mumbai and submitted the negligible result. Things went better in the second round, and Kokok and his stallion stayed clean. “In the second round it was just a great feeling,” the rider commented. “We resisted.”
“I saw iron fly”
The performances of the two women were also impressive. Unbeaten Jan-Friedrich Mayer Zimmermann with Messi and Jana Wargers with Limbridge in the first round. In the second, Wargers was knocked out after her horse lost a horseshoe on the track. “I saw iron fly,” Wargers said. Meyer-Zimmermann even rode flawlessly the second time around.
For national coach Otto Becker, the competition, which took home one million euros, was “an endurance test with the aim of the world championship”. The other contenders for the world championships in August in Herning, Denmark, are Markus Enning of Borken, Christian Ahlmann (Marl) and Daniel Deusser, who also lives in Belgium.
