The FEI Youth Nations Cup Series Final took place in Lier, Belgium on Sunday. The host nation of Mathieu Guéry, Evelyne Putters, Vic de Plecker and Bart Jay Junior Vandecasteele shone in the Young Riders, proudly carrying the Belgian colours to victory. In the other categories, Great Britain took the top step of the podium in the Ponies, while the Netherlands and the USA won in the Children and Juniors.
Young Riders, Ponies, Juniors and Children gathered last week in Lier, Belgium, for the final of the FEI Youth Nations Cup series. On this occasion, a good number of nations made the trip to Flanders.
In the Young Riders, the balance tipped in favour of the host nation. Fifth at the end of the qualification round on Friday, Belgium held on until the end. Tied on points (eight) with Italy and Austria at the end of the two rounds of this 1.45m final, the Flat Country had to be separated from the other nations in the jump-off. Against the clock, Mathieu Guéry, Evelyne Putters, Vic de Plecker and Bart Jay Junior Vandecasteele proved untouchable and faster than the Italians, while Austria finished with a fault. Buoyed by their public, the four riders thus clinched victory by a hair’s breadth, relegating the Transalpines to second place with a total score of eight points. Austria completed this podium with twelve points.
On the Junior side, it was the American team that won. With a final score of zero, Clara Propp, Avery Griffin, Alexa Elle Lignelli, Elise Stephens climbed to the top step of the podium. Sweden took second place thanks to a final score of eight points while the Czech Republic finished third with sixteen points.
With just one fault all weekend, Great Britain were arguably the most consistent team in the Ponies category. National coach Clare Whitaker relied on solid performances from Hollie Gerken, Sophia Rogers, Maisie Allsop and Cate Kerr to take gold. Finishing with just one point, the riders from across the Channel edged out their Irish neighbours, who finished second with a total of eight points. The Belgian team finished in third place with twelve points.
Finally, in the Children’s category, the Netherlands emerged victorious from this Nations Cup final. Led by double clear rounds from Liv Linssen, Mayke Leusink and Stella Heijligers, the Dutch finished the event with zero points. Joep Schaap’s four points in the first and second rounds were not counted. The Dutch team was joined on the podium by Great Britain and Ireland.
As a reminder, France did not travel to Belgium given the calendar proximity to the start of the school year.
The results
General rankings
All the events of the CSIO YJPCh-NCF of Lierre can be found in full on ClipMyHorse.tv
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