European Open 2019: Who can defend the title?

Special attention at the European Open belongs to last year’s winners, who have automatically qualified for the next tournament. The fact that the event will again be held on sand creates similar conditions as in the previous year. Even with the weather, the current high temperatures are not far from the last edition, where the brooding heat also demanded everything from humans and dogs. Good conditions for the three winners of the previous year Max Sprinz with Bäx, Daniel Schröder with Cashew and Maruša Podjed with Nai.

Not impossible, but anything but easy will be the mission title defense for Max Sprinz and Bäx. Although he has repeatedly proven since his title that the victory last year was not a fluke. At the same time, the power density in the Large competition is so high that the necessary little bit of luck still plays an important role. How close the gaps are at the top was impressively demonstrated at the World Championships in Sweden. And the last tournaments confirm this trend.

Large
  Max Sprinz with Bäx

Daniel Schröder and Cashew will be especially motivated this weekend. The European Open is the biggest international platform for the team this year, due to the missed World Championship qualifiers a bit unfortunate. The other big fact is, that Daniel Schröder is one of the most experienced runners and Cashew one of the fastest dogs. An explosive mixture. But the sand forgives no mistakes and pole drops happen quickly. But we would be very surprised if Daniel Schröder would not be under the top places after a clean run.

Medium
  Daniel Schröder with Cashew

The last in the league of the three defending champions is the Slovenian Maruša Podjed who is currently presenting in strong form across all classes. Many good results at the Moravia Open strengthen her back. Even if it was not enough for a clean run in the final. In terms of time, she was only behind Pavol Vakonic and Meryl. The large victory with Pan in the same tournament, is another big motivation boost.

Small
  Maruša Podjed with Nai

Of course, we do not want to ignore the team ranking. Even if there is little sense to make big theses. At least we want to mention the victorious nations and their runners. In the Large competition, Germany could take home another gold medal. Thanks to the all-female team around Anne Lenz, Arianne Wieber, Christiane Fischbach and Mona Grefenstein. For Medium dogs, there was even a gold medal for the host from Austria. Laura Reinhalter, Sabina Marxer, Simone Ullrich-Pansi and Werner Goltz was the successful quartet. Before the gold medal for Maruša Podjed on the final day, she secured the golden team medal in the Small competition together with Kristijan Koprivnik, Manca Mikec and Sandi Okanović.

Team Large
  Anne Lenz, Arianne Wieber, Christiane Fischbach, Mona Grefenstein

Team Medium
  Laura Reinhalter, Sabina Marxer, Simone Ullrich-Pansi, Werner Goltz

Team Small
  Kristijan Koprivnik, Manca Mikec, Maruša Podjed, Sandi Okanović