“If it always feels like this, I’ll do another one!” was the verdict of Germany’s Christoph Wahler, after his team won eventing World Championships gold.
After a day – and a week – of scores and positions changing by the round, it was Germany who took the team title on a score of 95.2, over a fence ahead of silver medallists the United States.
The team comprised Christoph (Carjatan S), Sandra Auffarth (Viamant Du Matz), Michael Jung (FischerChipmunk FRH) and Julia Krajewski (Amande De B’Neville).
Sandra and Viamant Du Metz lowered three showjumps, on what she said was an “exciting day”.
“I did not have not the best round; I have a really good showjumper but today he was a bit not concentrating, and impressed by the atmosphere,” she said. “After that we were all quite tense, it was exciting and then we were very happy at the end that we made it.”
Michael, who was in individual gold this morning but lowered two fences to finish fifth, said: “To lose and win a medal at the same time is a strange feeling .
“I’m very happy, it was a great day. My horse jumped amazing, he was in super form, all of us were in good form. We had good preparation, and thank you to all the big team we have around us, behind us, they helped us to come here, to have a good performance and to win the gold medal with the whole team is amazing.”
Christoph added: “This is my first World Championships; if it always feels like that, I’ll try to do another one!”
The US took silver, a first Olympic or world team medal for the Americans since 2004; Will Coleman (Off The Record), Tamie Smith (Mai Baum), Lauren Nicholson (Vermiculus) and Boyd Martin (Tsetserleg TSF) finished on a total of 100.3.
“I’m very proud to be American,” Boyd said. “To have five clears across country yesterday [including individuals Ariel Grald on Leamore Master Plan] was amazing.
“I’ve been on many championship teams and been so close, it’s just a massive sigh of relief. I can’t be prouder, it’s just awesome, I’m very thankful to the team of America and grateful to be here.”
Will added: “I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this group and part of US eventing; hopefully this is a great step forward for us as a country and we can build on it, it’s been magic to be part of it this week.”
It was also a first world or Olympic eventing team medal for New Zealand, who took bronze, since 2012. Tim Price (Falco), Jonelle Price (McClaren), Monica Spencer (Artist) and Clarke Johnstone (Menlo Park) finished on a total of 100.7.
“I’m happy to be here, always the biggest goal to come to a World Championships and win a medal, it’s been my focus and all our focus for a long time,” sad Clarke. “And to pull it off and get a medal round our necks for the first time in a long time is an amazing feeling.”
Tim added: “We’ve focused on this for years, this kind of major event with the team behind you, with a nation behind you, it means absolutely everything.”
Eventing World Championships 2022 team medals
Gold: Germany – 95.2
Silver: US – 100.3
Bronze: New Zealand – 100.7
Fourth: Great Britain – 100.9
You might also be interested in:
British team finishes off the podium on rollercoaster World Championships final day
‘The dream finish’: fairytale result as Britain celebrates new world champion in Pratoni
Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round
Keep up with all of the breaking news, behind the scenes insight and the best of the action throughout the World Eventing Championships with no limit on how much you can read from as little as £1 per week with a Horse & Hound unlimited website subscription. Sign up now. Plus enjoy our full 20-page magazine report (on sale 22 September) including opinion from Mark Phillips and ground jury president Christina Klingspor.
