In Avenches, Belgium has been crowned the winner of the CSIO4* Longines EEF Series Nations Cup Final. The Belgians finished ahead of Sweden and Austria.
Led by Chef d'Équipe Filip Lacus, Belgium fielded Roy van Beek with Charleston-H (Comme Il Faut), Mathieu Bourdeaud'hui with Oscar the Homage (Quint vh Maarlo Z), Katja Haep with Romy FZ (Baltic VDL), and Jeroen Appelen with King CJS (Action-Breaker). After twelve penalty points in the first round, the Belgian team delivered a perfect performance in the second round, with all four combinations jumping clear.
Van Beek and Charleston-H bounced back from eight penalties in the first round with a clear second round. Bourdeaud'hui and Oscar the Homage, Haep with Romy FZ, and Appelen with King CJS also kept all the poles up in the second round. Belgium therefore finished on 12 penalty points and a total time of 217.56 seconds.
Sweden finished second on 16 penalty points. Karin Martinsen with Tailormade Conita Blue PS, Stephanie Holmén with Mitanni, Amanda Landeblad with Springfield 21 and Marcus Westergren with Airco de L'Esprit Z made up the Swedish team.
Austria completed the podium on 20 penalty points. Christoph Obernauer with Kleons Renegade, Theresa Sutterlüty with Kensington, Bianca Babanitz with Dakato and Katharina Rhomberg with Cuma 5 secured third place for Austria.
Belgian Chef d'Équipe Filip Lacus praised his motivated team, which was selected primarily for its consistency:
"We had a good season, the horses jumped well and we gave all the riders as much experience as possible. The choice of the four riders for today's team was based on being competitive, consistent, jumping a lot of clear rounds and being motivated to come here. Some of them already have experience at the highest level. After the first round, we knew that our chance of winning was still alive, but we had to wait and see what happened. We needed a fault from Sweden to win — and we were lucky today."
The team members also reflected on their individual performances. Roy Van Beek, who finished the competition on eight penalty points, said:
"My horse has a lot of qualities and the ability to jump at the highest level, but he is still a little green. He made two mistakes in the first round and learned from them to jump clear in the second."
Jeroen Appelen, who was the last Belgian rider to go and finished on four penalty points overall (0+4), said:
"My plan was always to try to jump clear, but it was not so easy. I was a little unlucky in the first round in the triple combination, but he jumped clear in the second round and I am very happy."
Mathieu Bourdeaud'hui jumped clear in the first round before picking up eight penalties in the second:
"He jumped really well in the first round. I tried to do the same, but I had a fault at the water and an oxer. I can't say anything about my horse, it is all on me."
Katja Haep, the only female rider on the Belgian team, also reflected on her performance. She finished on 16 penalty points but produced a fantastic clear in the second round:
"An unlucky first round, but a fantastic clear in the second. I was a little too cautious in the first round. I walked the course and saw that it was difficult, which made me ride too cautiously. I was so happy that I could give my mare a clear round. She deserved it."
Quentin Simonet, President of the European Equestrian Federation, had warm words for both the season and the organisation:
"Huge congratulations to the team. What you did in Belgium this season was fantastic. We are really looking forward to the coming season. The EEF Series continues to grow dynamically, and we are very grateful to Edwin Smits that here in Avenches, together, we can continue to grow."
Event organiser Edwin Smits reflected on a successful final:
"Beautiful weather, great sport and great winners. Last year it was Switzerland, and of course we hoped the home team could win again. Everybody walked the course and thought it was very fair, but a few fences proved more difficult than expected. Still, we had clear rounds, even two double clears, and big congratulations to Belgium. It is a well-deserved win, and a big applause for the whole structure around the team: the breeding and the entire system that has been built around these riders."
Course designer Gerard Lachat described the challenge of building the final:
"It's fantastic to build this course, and I'm lucky that Edwin trusts me. I've been building courses at his shows for a very long time. This is a really important final, and I tried to do the best job possible. Today, I thought it was genuinely a good course. I didn't expect the triple combination to cause so many faults. We made a few adjustments between the two rounds, and in the end it turned out to be a really beautiful class."