The Australian Team fourth at the World Championships
The Australian Team placed 4th overall in the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships. Three girls from the team all crossed the finish line together holding hands. They are listed as 23rd, 24th, 25th individually as follows:
- Jodie Lee Salinas riding Koela De La Dour
- Sasha Laws-King riding Oso Edith
- Alexandra Toft riding Dream Dancer te
Unfortunately, Ben Hudson riding Oso Cap Braveheart & Rebecca Pinder riding Safwa failed to complete after both vetting out during the ride.
Jodie Salinas shared on Social Media "What can I say ! A perfect vet card at the end, a trainer who knows exactly what he is doing as we came with the intention of doing between 19-20km/h a speed Koela hasn't done before and she did just that -19.4 , she has never let me down an absolutely amazing mare, a team of 5 different nationalities all with the same goal, a strong finish with 3 of my team mates, overall 4th place for team Australia."
It was a race full of twists and turns! After the elimination at the final vet inspection of the number 1, Saif Ahmed al Mozroui, of the number 2 Jonatan Rivera Riarte and the number 3 Abdulla Ghanim Al Marri, Jaume Punti Dachs, Alex Luque Moral and Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa finally reached the podium.
Spain’s Jaume Punti Dachs captured individual gold and led his compatriots Alex Luque Moral and Angel Soy Coll to the team title at the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2016 in Samorin (SLK).
Punti Dachs, who also took team and individual gold at the European championships at the Samorin venue 12 months ago, had a perfect ride on the nine-year-old grey Twyst Maison Blanche to complete the 160km track in 06:46:42 with an average speed of 23.60 km/h.
Fellow Spaniard Alex Luque Moral and Calandria, the lovely 10-year-old grey mare that deservedly took the best conditioned horse award, were 50 seconds off the pace to take individual silver, with Bahrain’s HH Sheikh Nasser Bin Al Kalifa taking bronze with Waterlea Dawn Treader in a time of 06:49:47.
Jonatan Rivera Riarte was leading when Saif Ahmed al Mozroui suddenly popped by him and finished the race alone at the head, leaving the other riders far behind him.
As they already were Gold and Silver medalists, the 2 Spanish riders also became World Team Champion. Even if Jaume was sad after the elimination of his wife, Maria Alvarez Ponton, he has fully savored his victory …moved to tears: “Even when you did right, things can go wrong. That’s life!” But for him today, everything went right. When somebody asked him to who he dedicated his victory, the response was clear: “I dedicate this victory to my wife Maria, the heart of my family and to Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum who supports me and makes me evaluate.”
Alex Luque Moral said it was « a strange day » for him. “My mare went fast on the 1st loop because there was too many horses close to her. I had to slow down to keep energy for the rest of the race. But in the last loop, I decided to really have fun and show everybody what I was able to do! “ Result is: 2 medals and only 1,10 m behind Jaume.
The last Spanish rider of the team, Angel Soy Coll, had a special day today also. « It was my 1st participation in the team. I did what the team was expected from me. I found this race very complicated and very fast» But he did the job.
If Gold and Silver are for Spain, the Middle East are however on the podium with the Bronze medal of HH Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad al Khalifa of Bahrain. “I believed in my plan and it works.”
With a team podium 100% European with Spain first, France 2nd and Netherlands 3rd and the Gold and Silver for Spain in individual, this World podium looks like a European one. And we can noticed that Spain put 3 of her 5 riders in the 6 first places. According to all riders, this race was very difficult, very technical even if there was no mountain loop this year with different floors and with a meteo somewhat fickle: rain in the morning, sunny in the middle of the day and almost stormy in the evening.
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Related News Stories :
- 15 September 2016 : Longines FEI World Endurance Championships 2016 - Slovakia welcomes record 46 nations
- 31 August 2016 : Samorin, the kingdom of endurance
- 22 August 2016 : Announcing the team for the 2016 FEI World Endurance Championships for Seniors
- 23 Juin 2016 : Short list for the 2016 FEI World Endurance Championships for Seniors
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