Germans crowned champions
Germany were crowned HSBC FEI European champions after completing a landslide victory ahead of France and Great Britain.
The German quartet of Michael Jung, Sandra Auffarth, Ingrid Klimke and Andreas Dibowski ruthlessly ended Britain’s hopes of a ninth successive title in winning by a huge margin of 26.8 penalties.
Reigning world champion Jung and La Biosthetique-Sam also won individual gold, with his team-mate Auffarth and Opgun Louvo second, Germany’s Frank Ostholt (Little Paint) third and another home rider, Dirk Schrade, fourth.
Jung becomes the first rider since Zara Phillips in 2006 to hold world and European titles simultaneously.
He took gold when last-to-go Klimke and FRH Butts Abraxxas cracked under pressure. A clear round would have given them gold, but they had six fences down and ended up finishing 11th.
World team champions Britain had to settle for bronze, being undone by three French clear rounds.
Britain finished 3.5 penalties behind France, being unable to regroup sufficiently after five-time Olympian Mary King was eliminated following a crashing cross-country fall from Imperial Cavalier.
There was no escaping a command performance by the Germans, whose riders were roared home by a capacity crowd.
Team manager Yogi Breisner admitted: “The German team has been awesome these last four days. Their performance would have been good enough to win any major championship in the last 25 years.
“It is an unpredictable sport. We had no hiccups at the World Equestrian Games last October, and the Germans had no hiccups here.
“Opposition Buzz did his usual fantastic cross-country job for us. He has to be the best cross-country horse in the world at the moment.”
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