Gold for Team Europe at Youth Olympics

The winning Team Europe. By FEI

Team Europe has won gold at the Youth Olympic Games after a jump-off between three teams.

Europe, Australasia and Africa were all on four penalties going into today’s second round and it proved to be a battle to the end for these continents. It looked as though Europe would clinch gold without the need for a decider when its last rider Nicola Philippaerts (BEL), cleared fence after fence with Gippsland Girl. But she had the last fence down leaving Europe, Australasia and Africa tied on eight penalties.

There were again some very smooth clear rounds, including those by Martin Fuchs (SUI) who went clear in both rounds of the competition and in the jump-off, where he upped the pace slightly on Midnight Mist for the fastest time.

Both Europe and Australasia picked up four faults in the crowd-pleasing jump-off, but Europe’s faster overall time earned the gold, with Australasia gaining silver and Africa bronze. 


Europe's chef d'equipe said: "The team is fantastic. They worked together really well out there and knew exactly what they had to do. I wouldn’t change one thing."

There was marked improvement between Wednesday’s first round and today’s performances, with an increased number of clear rounds. Faultless performances came from Carian Scudamore (GBR), Guilherme Foroni (BRA), Timur Patarov (KAZ), Jake Lambert (NZL), Caroline Chew (SIN), Mario Gamboa (COL), Dominique Shone (CAN), Sheikh Ali Abdulla M Alqassimi (UAE), Thomas Mc Dermott (AUS) and Samantha McIntosh (RSA). Jasmine Lai (HKG), Wojciech Dahlke (POL) and Xu Zhengyang (CHN), who had not previously gone clear, raised their game against the clock to contribute to their teams’ overall scores with a clear.

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