Germany Sweeps All Three Divisions of Burlington Capital FEI Vaulting World Cup™ Final

Germany swept the board in all three divisions at the captivating Burlington Capital FEI Vaulting World Cup™ Final at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The Germans came into the second and final Freestyle round in pole position in all categories, and all three of their routines came up golden.

The day’s top freestyle score came courtesy of world number four ranked Jannik Heiland, who used his position as last to go — earned by his win in the Technical Test — to full advantage. The 30-year-old was awarded 9.203 and 9.347 from the two technical judges, giving him an overall final score of 8.551, as the Technical and Freestyle routine scores are averaged to determine the final placings. Heiland finished second and third in previous Vaulting FEI World Cup™ Finals, but this year finally took the ultimate prize, claiming the Individual Male champion’s sash.

The youngest vaulter, 16-year-old Dutch competitor Sam Dos Santos, finished second with 8.052 despite a misstep on his ground jump. He showed maturity to recover quickly and complete his impressive routine on the borrowed horse Max, lunged by Sarah Krauss (GER). Andrin Müller held on to third place, also with Max and Krauss, scooping a score of 7.514.  

Heiland began with an outside mount on San Classico S — which he borrowed for this competition and was lunged by its owner, Germany’s Sonja Meyer — and showed spectacular core strength along with smooth transitions. This was his last time performing this custom-made freestyle before he makes a new one, so the win was a fitting way to retire it.

“I was for sure very happy to show here a good round,” said Heiland, whose usual horse was left at home to spare him the long trip, as he is older. “I think the first half of my freestyle was very good, and then there were some exercises and transitions where I struggled, so it was not 100%. I had to change the horse about eight days before the flight. This was a little challenge for me, but San Classico did a very good job in this big arena.

“The theme was bionic, so it’s a mixture from nature, human, and modern technologies,” he added. “I’m sad that it was the last time to show the freestyle, because I put a lot of effort into it, but it was very cool to do it here one last time.”

It was another performance facilitated by Sonja Meyer and San Classico S, a 16-year-old Oldenburg gelding by Sancisco, that scooped the Individual Female top honors. Kathrin Meyer was lunged by her mother to a Freestyle score of 8.556, bringing her final score to 8.428, ensuring her FEI Vaulting World Cup™ Final debut was a winning one.

But it was an exceptionally close competition as Danielle Bürgi (SUI) actually pulled off a higher score in the Freestyle (8.599). Both vaulters were making their FEI Vaulting World Cup™ Final debut. Eventually, Bürgi finished just 0.082 behind in the overall scores, standing reserve champion to Meyer. Bürgi, who was sixth in last year’s FEI Vaulting World Championships, produced smooth transitions and inventive combinations atop Best Brew, lunged by Andrea Selch (USA). The podium was rounded out by another German, Julia Sophie Wagner. She quite literally vaulted up the leaderboard after a disappointing Technical test where she finished sixth. She pulled off a 8.506 Freestyle, bringing up her final score to 7.791 and into third place. She was partnered with Sir LauLau and lunged by Germany’s Hendrik Falk. 

The 22-year-old Meyer, who is ranked fourth in the world, scored heftily for the high quality of the technical elements in her inventive program, gaining 9.125 from both exercise judges. Meyer, who began crafting her freestyle for this show in October, said, “It was some pressure [to go last], but I was also really happy to enter the arena. It was such a nice atmosphere for all of our athletes.

“It’s always a bit hard to tell after the winter training how the others will be. Of course I hoped I would win this, but you never know. We have a great female vaulter field, so I was hoping to show what I’m able to do and that worked pretty well. It was the first time for us three at such a great competition, and I’m really happy we did such a good job.”

Her mother Sonja, who was lungeing at a major final for the first time added, “I’m very proud of my horse. We bought him 10 years ago, so I trained him myself. He’s done jumping and dressage and goes with me into the forest, and now he’s doing this job — and to additionally have Jannik on top of him. I’m really proud to have these moments all together.”

The Pas de Deux contest once again provided top-drawer sport, with all four combinations scoring over eight for their beautiful, artistic routines in the second round.

The German duo of Diana Harwardt and Peter Künne, who took a nasty tumble in the first round, were first to go, executing an exquisite freestyle for 8.516 — the highest score of the day in the division. Their performance with DSP Sir Laulau, lunged by Hendrik Falk, propelled them to the top of the leaderboard where they stayed until the very last pair of the day, compatriots Chiara Congia and Justin Van Gerven, swept in.

Congia and Van Gerven, who won FEI World Championship gold in 2022 and third at last year’s FEI Vaulting World Cup™ Final, had one glitch in their daring performance. But the 28-year-old Van Gerven hopped right back onto Max, a horse they borrowed last minute, and they completed their Black Magic-themed routine with aplomb.

Their freestyle score of 8.311 was enough to push their final score of 8.341 to the top of the pack. When their win appeared on the screen, the pair cheered, hugged, and grabbed a German flag to run a lap of honor around the stadium arena. This was a particularly special result as both Van Gerven and 26-year-old Congia are retiring from the sport. This was their final show together.

The Austrian duo of Romana Hintner and Eva Nagiller, who performed on Killian lunged by decorated vaulter Mary McCormick of the U.S., rounded out the podium with a final score of 7.832.  

The audience gasped as Congia and Van Gerven performed their signature move: she balanced, unsupported at full stretch, on his shoulders, with only her stomach touching him.

“It feel like I am flying,” beamed Congia, whose pas de deux demonstrated breathtaking balance and height, particularly impressive as the horse the pair had brought with them went lame on the morning of the Technical test. “We did a lot of work, we trained the whole last season, and I’m really happy that this time we could win — even if it was bit different from what we planned.”

Van Gerven, who has been training with Congia since 2015 and is a forensic accountant when he’s not vaulting, added, “I felt a little bit off balance, and I tried to push her back on the horse so she didn’t fall as well. I thought, ‘Okay, let’s go from here.’ You can’t think about things that happened before. You have to think about the next step and go on.

“It takes a lot of time to get to know each other so well. Before competitions like this, we meet every day doing some workouts or horse training, so it’s a lot of work we have to put in there, but it was always fun,” he added. “It’s always a challenge to be able to create exercises where we have enough space and can also put on a good show. It’s always difficult on a horse you’re not used to — small things can make a difference. We didn’t analyze the freestyle yet, but for now we will just celebrate the win.”

Lisa Roskens was instrumental in bringing vaulting to Omaha, and she is also CEO of sponsor Burlington Capital. She said, “We are thrilled that they are here. It was an obvious thing to us to add a third sport.

“So we started thinking ‘What’s a sport that would really appeal to a broad brush of people?’ and I think vaulting is really probably one of the most equitable of the equestrian sports, because you don’t have to own a horse. Anyone with desire and skill and talent and drive can figure out a way to do it. So it was something that we really wanted to introduce to this part of the country and see if we can’t get a little energy around it.”

Action at the FEI World Cup™ Finals Omaha 2023 concluded on April 8.

Click here for full results.

Text by Alice Collins