Bram Chardon wins the 2024 World Cup!

Yesterday’s top four, consisting of Dries Degrieck, Koos de Ronde, Boyd Exell and Bram Chardon, finished two penalty seconds apart. “When everything is so close together in advance, you know you can’t afford to miss a beat. The four seconds that are added is simply too much,” Bram responds afterwards.

Wild Card participant Benjamin Aillaud started first today and finished with a total time of 164.54. Michael Brauchle’s team seemed to be in better shape today than yesterday. The horses were sharper and the transitions were quick. Unfortunately, in obstacle ten, on the way to the E gate, Brauchle drove over an element of the obstacle, causing a ball to fall. He therefore had to settle for the total score of 163.89.

Then IJsbrand Chardon started his round aggressively. With a split time of 13.47 seconds faster than Michael Brauchle, he seemed to open the throttle even further in the second part. IJsbrand stayed clear and finished in 142.35 seconds. No one was able to improve on that score for a long time. Dries Degrieck and Koos de Ronde managed to stay faster with their times of 139.98 and 138.63, but because they both had a ball, they fell just short of qualifying for the Drive-off. Koos de Ronde was only 0.31 seconds slower than Ijsbrand.

In the Drive-off, gates 6F and 10D were eliminated. IJsbrand kicked off the drive off and recorded a super fast, smooth and flawless round. His time of 121.30 gave him a combined total of 263.65 penalty points. Bram was also fast, his horses were eager and he always knows how to keep control. He improved on his father’s time with 116.41 penalties.

The difference between Bram and Boyd for the Drive-off was small, less than one second. When Boyd entered the arena, groom Emma quickly tightened the harness of one of the horses with tape. Unfortunately, a ball fell for Boyd at gate three, making him realize that he had to do everything he could to stay ahead of Bram. He came terribly close, but with his time of 113.57 and the extra penalties due to the ball, he missed the victory by a hair. The victory goes to Bram Chardon.

Gates 1, 2 and 3 were difficult. “After gate 4 I picked up the pace and in the last obstacle it was all or nothing. The fact that a ball fell for Boyd is beneficial for me. It’s unbelievable where he gets his speed from, because he was of course faster than me again today. The two clear rounds saved me today, I am very happy with this victory.”

“I think this is one of the very best finals in recent years, because until the very last moment it was not certain who would win. If you finally win by half a second after three rounds, then that is a result to be proud of. Especially with my father on the podium, that is the dream scenario for such a competition.”