Kitty King had an unlucky rail down in the final European Eventing Championships showjumping phase today (26 September) in Avenches, Switzerland. Riding Vendredi Biats, who is owned by Diana Brown, Sally Lloyd Baker, Sally Eyre and Samantha Wilson, Kitty jumped a beautiful round, bar hitting the second fence.
“He felt really good in the warm-up and wasn’t touching anything, but we went and hit one inside the arena, but he’s had a fairly long, drawn out season and a bit of a mismatch year, so he’s performed brilliantly,” Kitty explained after her European Eventing Championships showjumping round, which dropped them from eighth after the cross-country down to eventual ninth.
“It’s just a real shame to have a fence down on the last day when he hasn’t had one all season – it’s one of those things and I’m just relieved it didn’t cost the team anything. He’s gone out and performed really well and I couldn’t really be prouder of him at all.”
Kitty explained that her first senior gold medal is “special”, having contributed to Britain’s team success this week.
“It’s great to do it with such a great team of girls and I think it’s hopefully really nice to show some girl power to all the young Pony Club girls, to give them a little bit of a boost,” she said. “Just to give them the confidence that we girls can can do just as good a job as the boys.
“It’s been a really fun week, everyone’s got on really well together, we’ve had a great time and great rapport with everyone, including the grooms. It’s been a lucky week, a lovely experience and I quite like Switzerland – I might have to come back on holiday!”
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‘A dream come true’ – gold rush for Britain in European Eventing Championships showjumping, plus a podium clean sweep
Sarah Bullimore takes ‘emotional’ European bronze: ‘It’s taken me 10 years just to get here’
‘He is as tough as old boots’: Ros Canter reflects on her European Eventing Championships showjumping performance
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