The Norka squad from Cologne, Germany successfully defended their Gold medal in the Team Final of the Christie's International Real Estate's Vaulting competition at the FEI World Equestrian Game™ Tryon 2018 on Saturday, to conclude the discipline. The team earned a total score of 8.638 and repeated their ranking in the FEI Nations Cup™, keeping Switzerland and Austria at bay.
The dual Gold medalists beat their result from WEG 2014, showing a truly magical performance interpreting the magician's known from the movie 'Now You See Me'. Spectators were treated to a class performance with Danny Boy OLD and lunger Patric Looser, a WEG Gold medalist himself in 2010 for Switzerland. The endless hours of training that went into their show were obvious.
"We know each other since many years and we are one. We could trust each other," the team explained when asked how they kept their nerves.
The Team Gold medal was hard to earn especially for anchor vaulter Thomas Brüsewitz, who sustained an injury during the Individual Male Final earlier in the day, in which he secured third.
"There is a large team behind us. It is impossible not to win with them. If need be, somebody would carry me onto the circle," said Brüsewitz following the medal presentation in TIEC's Indoor Arena.
Team Switzerland, defending their Silver medal from WEG 2014 behind Germany, had trailed the overnight leaders by the smallest possible margin, only 0.001 points but could not stand the pressure. Several of their intricate moves collapsed, leaving them disappointed, but later happy with their second place finish.
The Bronze medalists from Austria showed the second-best Freestyle of the day, finishing on 8.198. They earned overall 9's for technical execution and artistic value, but missed out on a top score for their horse Alessio L'Amabile with lunger Maria Lehrman.
"It is so amazing to be here and have this chance to show our Freestyle. We were the perfect team and the harmony was awesome," the Austrian Vaulters raved.
Team USA took fourth place, overtaking Italy who had showed their beautiful aerials to a medley of catchy Italian records, wowing the crowds.