On the official second day of the Agility World Championships, the sporting action finally got underway. The program included the jumping team competitions in the medium, intermediate and small categories. And on the first day there were a few stories and surprises. And one of them is practically a repeat of last year.
Elina Karasjova and Sheltie Furk from Latvia opened the 2024 World Championship early in the morning. The Latvian team would not play a major role in the rankings later on. Not surprisingly, the German national team around Eva Mueller-Schnick, Silas Boogk, Krisztina Beitl-Kabai and Anne Lenz were among them. The German team ended up in third place, with Anne Lenz being discarded. A good team performance with room for improvement. Eva Müller-Schnick was the fastest from Germany in 18th place. The Finns came second thanks to strong individual performances, consisting of Maria Sori, Emilia Lindström, Olli Fredrikson and Teemu Kollanen. Maria Sori and Daim ended up in fourth place if you reduce the ranking to the individual runs.
But the big story in the Medium tournament was once again written by the Czech team. As in the previous year, it consisted of just two people. Lenka Fuksova and Aneta Obrusnikova with three dogs. The latter got off to a good start with a faultless run. After a short breather, the next faultless run followed with Arrya. The third team, Lenka Fuksova and Hippie, also a fast team, also got off to a good start. Until Lenka fell shortly before the end. With great difficulty she managed to get up again and continue to the finish. No mistakes or refusal, but of course a small loss of time. In the end, however, the 14th fastest running time was still achieved. Now it was Aneta and Chilli’s turn to get to the finish as quickly as possible. She completed this task with ease, setting the best time of the race and a half-second lead. It was practically the same story as last year.
Team Jumping Medium (full results)
Czech Republic (A. Obrusnikova – Ollie, Chilli, Arrya, L. Fuksova – Hippie)
Finland (M. Sori – Daim, E. Lindström – Lix, O. Fredrikson – Cromi, T. Kollanen)
Germany (E. Müller-Schnick – Boom, S. Boogk – Beam, K. Beitl-Kabai – Hydro, A. Lenz – Rosalie)
The second decision of the day was made in Esa Muotka’s Intermediate Jumping. And it was a clear matter right from the start. The Swiss were one of the earlier teams to start. And they completed four quick runs on the sacred grass in Belgium. Martin Brunner and Fiona, who were the third team to start, however, had a refusal. Jessica Thomas and Hywee had already been lucky before. Hywee touched the part of the wall, which moved but did not fall down. Petra Häusermann, the last runner, then secured the lead for the Swiss with a clean run. And they were not to give it up until the end. Only the Czech team came within 2 seconds of the Swiss. The Italians came third. All the other teams already had a little overtime. Last year, the Swiss Intermediate was also in a promising position after the first Team Jumping, but were then unable to capitalize on their good starting position in Team Agility. Germany, with two penalty points, finished 13th and the British, with one disqualification and one penalty, finished 23rd.
Team Jumping Intermediate (full results)
Switzerland (P. Häusermann – Hope, J. Thomas – Hywee, C. Schwab – Sia, M. Brunner – Fiona)
Czech Republic (L. Ruzickova – Brilley, S. Simandlova – Dakota, J. Fiala – KnedleeCzech, D. Mixova)
Italy (S. Martelli – Petra, I. Sipalova – Zozo, E. Collini – Bagheera, D. Giovannelli – Easy-Peasy)
In the Small team competition we already got a small insight into what to expect in the individual competition. Martin Reid took the best time ahead of the reigning world champion Kjersti Jorgensen and Mark Herfert. In the team ranking, however, only Kjersti’s run brought a podium place. The Norwegians are currently in third place. Germany took their only podium place on the first day in the Small competition. In first place after the first day is Finland. With a fifth, sixth, eighth and tenth place, all team members are in the top ten.
Team Jumping Small (full results)
Finland (I. Vakkuri – Helka, J. Kock – Allis, S. Kariniemi – Megs, H. Lakianperä – Sonic)
Germany (D. Schröder – Via, S. Boogk – Gadget, M. Münch – Swoosh, M. Sprinz – Make)
Norway (K. Jorgensen – Agi, S. Gundersen – Mick, E. Bergendahl Gronas – Clay, E. Beate Saether – Xera)
