EN would like to thank Austin Ligon, who is attending the CCI*** in Italy this weekend. Since I’m not even sure where Montelibretti is, and I struggled mightily trying to navigate the Italian corner of the internet yesterday searching for scores, this first-hand report is much appreciated! Thanks, Austin, we owe you an espresso! See his Day 1 recap [here].
Lukasz Kazmierczak on Hromy
From Austin Ligon:
The big news for me, of course, is, NINA IS IN….FOR SURE! I won’t go into the math of it all or the specifics, but between the events of the day at Montelibretti and Ballindenisk, she can no longer be pushed off the list, and has one of the nine “true open” spots for London 2012 (20 total, but I exclude the 7 reserved regional spots –Asia goes to Clayton Fredericks) and the 4 mathematically-guaranteed Aussie spots at the top of the list…more on that some other day. 🙂 But to all of those who have provided support in this fantastic year, whether direct, moral, or just saying “go girl” on occasion….we all THANK YOU.
I also won’t go into who else will likely make it, because the “polls aren”t closed,” and I don’t want to jinx anyone’s chances or hopes tomorrow. The only person I can ALSO say is 100% is Elaine Pen, the super young (22yrs) Dutch rider who passed Nina last week in Seville and is taking a well deserved rest this weekend. She now has 232 points and is #1 on the “Open 9” list, and got them all on one horse…Vira! They are a combo to watch, believe me.
Despite my desire as a proud Dad that Nina have a spot because of all the hard work she has put in, I find I MUST cheer everyone one of these riders competing for the individual points; they all have worked incredibly hard in a year long process of over 100 global qualifying events to get those 5 precious scores. Pretty much, if they are here (or Ballindenisk), they deserve to go. And they have all seen the bar continue to go up and up again as the year has gone on.
The competition to make the cut has been intense, and kept getting harder all year. Which is why we have seen 8 “three star” competitions added for February worldwide in the last 100 days. And why over 100 eventers worldwide are riding CCI***’s and CIC***’s on this, the final weekend of the qualifying period… in February!
So, it will clearly take almost twice as many points for an individual to earn a spot this time, even from the wait list, as it did to qualify for Beijing. The last rider from the wait list in 2008 was a Russian with 100 points. In essence, a rider needs to have pretty well come 4th or better in five CIC***’s since last March to make the serious wait list, and, depending on tomorrow, may need as much as 5 CIC*** WINS or a little better (a strong CCI*** or Championship/**** finish) to be 100% sure of a spot on March 1 (the wait list clears between now and June 14th depending on individual and team drop outs…if there ARE any).
So when you read the official results on March 1, give a big cheer for ALL the individual riders around the world who made it through this meat-grinder, or came anywhere close! Everyone of them loves this sport, and has made huge sacrifices to get to this final weekend. Sorry for editorializing, and this is not about Nina…it is about ALL these riders who have worked so hard.
The day started with an early fright. There was one pretty bad fall, by the 6th rider to go, Bruno Goyens de Heusch (Belgian), where the horse Mitras Eminen hit the the boards with a crash heard all over the course and fell back in the deep ditch in front, while the rider flew over the fence. But miraculously both came out fine… though it took what seemed like forever to us spectating (probably 7-8 minutes in real time…imagine if it was YOUR horse how long that is in “Worry Time!”)….but the Italian soldiers were all over it instantly, and managed to finally get the horse out walking. It put a scare in all of us, but the rest of the competition went off cleanly. It was a day where riding fast really paid off…to either keep your lead, or move up. Eric Smiley (coaching the Belgian team, several hopefuls of which are here) described the course to me as, “Just about perfect for the first CCI*** of the year,” a good solid challenge, but not massive or overwhelming.
There were 37 starters, which means 10 riders get Olympic qualifying points (top 25% of starters, rounded up).
The top 3 didn’t change: Andrew Hoy stayed in 1st, Karin Donckers in 2nd, and Stefano Brecciaroli in 3rd….all on Olympic-quality horses. Andrew and Karin are riding to get their horses ready and make sure their Team selectors know they are; Brecciaroli is riding to hold on the the “Region B” Group (Southern Europe) reserved slot.
Lukazs Kazmierczak, one of my special favorites, held on to 4th with a solid ride on Hromy. He has driven, BY HIMSELF, with 2 horses, over 4,500 miles in the last 4 weeks to do the two CIC***’s in Seville and the CCI** in Montelibretti…his student grooms and drivers are all in school, as is his brother, who flies in on the weekend to help. His Odyssean tasks have included an evening breakdown in Northern Spain earlier this week on the way from Seville to Rome (notice ocean on map between the two…plus Alps)….with him staying up half the night to find two stable slots for Hromy and Ostler from a non-English (much less Polish) speaking friend of the mechanic’s ! And then he competes, and well. So I have to admit, if you want to cross your fingers and wish luck for someone, do it for Lukazs. Three weeks ago, everyone would have written him off from qualification, but he just won’t give up, and is highly likely if he can place tomorrow. In honor of Lukcazs, I have included a picture of his trusty Red MAN truck…which he still professes to love!
Vittoria Panizzon rode fast, well, and clear, and was rewarded for it: she moved up from 18th and 21st all the way to. I’m not exactly known as an expert when it comes to Eventing (my girls are gigling), but she was a real pleasure to watch. She rides in uniform, and it is clear even with my little Italian that the male Italian military are big admirers of her courage!
Vittoria Panizzon and Rock Model
Peter Flarup, with his beautiful horse Clarista, Merel Blom with Rumour Has It, the horse that put her in contention with a 5th at Galway ( she didn’t drive a Red truck :); and Harald Ambros round out the individual aspirants in 7th, 8th, and 9th. And Aurelian Kahn has a nice round to impress the French Team selectors with.
Finally, my other special favorite, Alex Hua Tian, China’s only eventer in history, moved up from 30th to 16th. He also has that “Never Say Die” spirit….after a year of hurt horses, he placed 3 times at the two Seville competitions, and is now in the mix. He is more or less our “neighbor” in Asia, and has hordes of young Chinese girls in love with him after competing in Beijing at the ripe old age of 19.
So, I have included pix of Donckers, Kazmierczak, Panizzon, and Hoy…because that’s what my slow reacting Android phone managed to get.
Andrew Hoy and Rutherford
Karin Donckers and Charizard
And, two more REALLY world class uniforms…. we need to spice things up in the States!
I promise tomorrow’s report will be short and sweet, with no sermon!
Best,
Austin Ligon
