Christian and Coster Win Again in Gothenburg….

German riders had it all their own way again when taking the top three placings at the penultimate qualifying leg of the 2006/2007 FEI World Cup™ Jumping series at Gothenburg, Sweden today where Christian Ahlmann came out on top ahead of Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum in second and Ludger Beerbaum in third. But it was a special day too for Tony Andre Hansen. as the young Norwegian who shares his time between his career as a pop-singer and his life as an international show jumping rider slotted into fourth in one of the most challenging competitions of the season.

“It was difficult – one of the toughest we've jumped so far” Ludger Beerbaum said after only four of the 39 starters managed to jump clear in the opening round, “but it was fair and the result shows that it was a good course because the best riders on the standings came out on top”.

Amongst the five riders who retired after accumulating numerous faults on the track were Dutch veteran Piet Raymakers with Van Schijndel's Curtis and Germany's Marco Kutscher with the eight year old Quidam de Revel gelding Quincy. Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst eventually slotted into fifth with just a single time fault for his nine year old, Lord Luis, and the home-side supporters were frustrated when their stars Malin Baryard-Johnsson, Rolf-Goran Bengtsson, Royne Zetterman, Helena Lundback and Svante Johansson all fell victim to an irritating single-fence error.

Course designer Leopoldo Palacios had been asking them big questions at the Swedish fixture all weekend, and today's competition was no different with horses and riders tested all around the track. “Absolute concentration” was the key according to Ahlmann who also pointed out that the time-allowed had a considerable influence on the final result. “The time was tight and proved difficult for some horses so they made a mistake, and you had to concentrate 100% all the way around the track” he explained.

Resultados (25.02.07)

CSI-W – Gotenburgo – Suécia
Prova 10 – Grande Prémio – AM5

1º Christian Ahlmann (Ale)/ Cöster / 0 / 0 – 29,51
2º Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (Ale) / Shutterfly / 0 / 0 – 30,18
3º Ludger Beerbaum (Ale) /Couleur Rubin / 0 / 0 – 30,61
4º Tony Andre Hansen (Nor) / Camiro/ 0 / 0 – 31,01
5º Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst (Ale) / Lord Luis / 1 – 66,07
6º Thomas Frühmann (Aut) / The Sixth Sense / 4 – 62,77
7º Helena Lundbäck (Sue)/ Madick / 4 – 63,40
8º Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (Sue) / Mac Kinley / 4 – 63,94
9º Dirk Demeersman (Bel) / Tymoon Caloo Meerchen / 4 – 64,33
10º Edwina Alexander (Aus) / Pialotta / 4 – 64,65