Show Jumping: Ireland's show jumpers crashed out of the European championships in Italy in dramatic style yesterday morning when world champion Dermott Lennon was eliminated in the first leg of the two-round team decider.
Robert Splaine's withdrawal after Thursday's speed-class fall meant the Irish had no discard score yesterday and Lennon's departure meant the end of the team.
Harry Marshall, making his championship debut, was first in for the Irish yesterday morning. Teamed up with the Larkin brothers' talented mare Ado Annie, Marshall was hoping to make amends for a 12-fault round in Thursday's opening speed leg. But the pair returned the same score yesterday with two rails down and a foot in the water, loading all the pressure onto Lennon and last-in Jessica Kurten.
Lennon and Kurten, both members of Ireland's gold-medal-winning team at the 2001 Europeans in Holland, are well used to carrying the weight of expectation. But Lennon's horse Condios was making his team debut and the inexperienced 10-year-old decided the final double of water ditches was a bridge too far.
Carrying four faults after connecting with the big oxer coming out of the second of three doubles, Condios had shown his dislike of water when spooking on the approach to the open water. But the stallion was more emphatic at the final double, napping badly on the way in and then jamming on the brakes.
Lennon circled the horse back for a second attempt and managed to get him to take on the fence, but Condios crashed through in a jumble of poles and Lennon pulled him out of the second element. That counted as a second refusal, meaning elimination and the end of Irish hopes of a revival. Marshall and Lennon are now out of the championship, but they will both start in this afternoon's Grand Prix.
That left Kurten jumping solely for an individual ranking in a bid to make the cut for tomorrow's top-25 individual final.
Two fences down with the mare Castle Forbes Maike kept her in the reckoning and a foot in the water was the only mistake second time out.
That left her in 21st overall, too far off the pace to get within striking distance of the medals, but she is now seeking important world ranking points. Currently 11th in the world rankings, Kurten is hoping to break into the top 10, which would give Ireland two places at the prestigious World Cup shows, instead of just the one available at the moment.
As expected, the team decider turned into a one-horse race. Once again the Germans galloped away with the gold, winning by a four-fence margin from the Swiss, who came off best in a tussle for the silver with Holland.
And the Germans are also dominating the individual standings, with Athens bronze medallist Marco Kutscher in front of compatriot and defending champion Christian Ahlmann.
