The very first FEI Youth Equestrian Games came to a thrilling conclusion on Saturday afternoon as part of the CHIO Aachen: The South African Thomas van Rijckevorsel won the individual gold medal in the steeplechase with huge cheers from the crowd, ahead of the Moroccan Jed Guerraoui and the American Mimi Gochman.
The story of these Youth Equestrian Games, which are intended to replace the Dakar 2022 Olympic Youth Games postponed to 2026, is already epic, as the 30 participants from 30 different nations – all between the ages of 15 and 18 – offered an incredible sporting week. Against the backdrop of the arguably most intimidating arena in the world, they demonstrated exceptional skills, maturity and equestrian prowess on borrowed horses that they had to get to know within a few days.
The 17-year-old Thomas van Rijckevorsel, after winning the individual gold on the nine-year-old mare Lucy 781, exclaimed: „It was incredible – it hasn’t even really sunk in yet. It is definitely the best thing that has ever happened to me!“ said the young man, who was also part of the team Africa that won bronze in the team medal event on Thursday.
Parcours designer Frank Rothenberger once again increased the challenges for the individual competitions with obstacles up to 1.30 m high, but 18 of the 30 starters still managed to complete the course without any errors. Apparently, most of the relationships between the new horse/athlete partnerships had really taken hold.
German sports soldier Charlotte Höing, who was a member of the Team Europe silver medal team on Thursday, started like a rocket with the Fox Wallach Andy’sBoy Bretoniere and had the home audience screaming with joy as she raced across the course, only to fail in an incredible time with four errors on the very last jump: 31.18 seconds! No one was faster than the 17-year-old – and no one had to cope with her handicap: Two irons were lost by her horse before the last jump.