The young athletes challenged each other for the individual medals in the Gotham North FEI North American Youth Championships for jumping. All riders attempted to ride 2 clear rounds in order to get good overall scores and take a place on the podium. In the Children's, Conway took the gold medal, while Lawson Whitaker took his gold in the Pre-Junior Category.
Children's Individual
Only 11 duo's came fault-free at the start of round one of the Individual Final for Children. Round two took it's victims and left 6 pairs fault-free at the end of it. These 6 could take a chance at winning the gold medal through the jump-off. The six survivors ready for the jump-off were Livia Martin (CAN), Taylor Cawley (Zone 4 - Wellington, Fla), Lenir Perez (HON), Olivia Sweetnam (Zone 4 - Wellington, Fla), Tarin Kiely (Zone 2 - Rumson, NJ) and final winner Conway.
Conway raced the small but mighty Nossa van de Bien to 28.66 seconds, which placed them in first position with only 2 riders still to come. Both Sweetnam and Kiely didn't stay clear and so Conway took the win. Conway afterwards stated that this was a super exciting and big accomplishment for her. She wants to keep improving and hopes to be back next year. The competition was big but with only six who went to the jump-off she knew she would end up with a ribbon anyway, she was just hoping to do well.
For Perez, it's his second individual silver medal and also his second time representing his nation. He aspires to represent Honduras in the Olympics of WEG someday in the future.
Pre-Junior Individual
In the second round of the finals, Taylor Landstrom, Avery Griffin and Lawson Whitaker all rode clear rounds. This led them to the podium, with Whitaker and D'Artagnan finishing first with only 3.32 penalties at the end. Griffin and Daring Queen ended up in second place, followed by Landstrom and Eleanor 3 landing in third position and taking bronze.
Whitaker forms a team with D'Artagnan for only 4 months now, but the partnership has already paid off. She claims the horse had a really big heart for jumping and a never ending energy tank. After winning gold in the Team Competition in 2021, her eyes were set on this individual medal as well. She put herself under a lot of pressure but after the first round she knew they could stay clear and she just had to stay focused. It's a blessing for both that they know how to perform well under pressure.
Landstrom her second position wasn't always secured but after a crucial clear round when it mattered most, she knew she could trust Eleanor 3 enough after knowing her for 2 years already. Her mindset was to trust her horse and stick to their plan.
Griffin was one of the two that jumped a double clear on saturday. Griffin stated that it took her a while before she knew how to ride the mare but that she tries so hard for her and was just great this week. She has a lot more potential then she thought at first and their goal was just to enjoy everything while riding as many clear rounds as possible.
The Jumping competition ends today, 14th of August, with the final rounds for Juniors and Young Riders.
See all results here