The Belgian combinations continue to perform strongly as a team. Last week, the Belgians impressed in the CSIO5* Nations Cup in La Baule. This week, the Belgian "jumping devils" claimed victory in the 1.55m CSIO4* Nations Cup of Sopot!
After the first round of the CSIO4* Nations Cup in Sopot, the Belgians took the lead— a position they never gave up. In the first round, both Frédéric Vernaet and Annelies Vorsselmans secured clear rounds.
Frédéric Vernaet proved to be the backbone of the team, delivering another faultless round in the second phase aboard Paulus-L (Corydon van T&L). Annelies Vorsselmans and the 12-year-old Trezeguet (Turmalin 1202) knocked one rail in the second round. Jeroen Appelen was the first to go. Riding the 10-year-old KWPN stallion King CJS (Action Breaker), Appelen finished the first round with one jumping fault, but made a strong comeback with a clear round in the second.
With this result, the fourth rider, Rik Hemeryck on Inoui du Seigneur (Jenson van 't Meulenhof), didn’t need to jump. Filip Lacus and his Belgian jumping devils claimed the gold with 8 penalty points—five points ahead of Italy. Team Ireland completed the podium!
