11 April 2022

Leipzig 2022: Bram Chardon takes the World Cup win

After a very exciting final this afternoon, Bram Chardon was crowned the winner of the FEI Four-in-hand World Cup. Boyd Exell did not manage to grab his tenth world cup title, he had to be content with second place. Glenn Geerts was an unexpected third.

“You can’t always win,” stated Boyd after the finish. “Bram is sharp, driven, and always wants to win, and that helps keep me sharp as well. It was a good fight.” After Friday’s win, Bram was able to start last in the final. He did not carry any penalty points forward from Friday, unlike Boyd who had to catch up with just under 4 seconds. The Australian unleashed his best and finished without errors in 132.46. That was a few seconds faster than Bram’s winning time. The Dutchman knew what he had to do. He drove almost the same time, but tapped a ball on a gate that he had to drive past. “The horses looked to the side a bit”, he explained. Friday’s lead was gone and Boyd Exell had a slight 0.13 lead going into the all-deciding drive-off.

Photo: Krisztina Horváth

Which of the two

The best three of the first round went on to the drive-off where it was immediately apparent that it was between Boyd and Bram. Both marathon obstacles had one gate less (5F and 9 E were out). The time of 118.39 that Bram clocked was great, but in the turn to 9F it was not tight enough and one of the leading horses made an error with their hoof on the adjacent gate 8. It was up to Boyd to be the last starter with a margin of over 4 seconds to secure his tenth title. The 8,500 crowd cheered from the stands and Boyd’s team drove fast and controlled until the last line after the oxer in the middle. He grazed Gate 2 on his way to the last obstacle. “The horses pulled towards the wrong gate,” he explains the error. His time of 122.62 was slower and so the victory went to Bram Chardon. “I was super nervous,” Bram said afterwards. “I saw Boyd’s first round and thought ‘He’s way too fast’. It was just like two years ago, we whip each other up until the last moment. The fitness of the horses gave me the win. Now we will take care of them first, and then we will certainly celebrate this win!”

Belgians in 3rd and 4th place

Third place went to Belgian Glenn Geerts. It had seemed that his fellow countryman, Dries Degrieck, had the best chance for the final day. Dries was third on Friday and again drove strong today. But due to a ball on the last gate he ended up in fourth place with 0.58 difference. Glenn drove clear, just like Friday, but did not make the turn to the oxer, in the middle in the last part of his course. As a result, he lost seconds, but still ended up in the drive-off. He made some mistakes in that. He had a ball driving into gate 6 before taking it and so had to take additional faults for the rebuilding of the hazard. The Belgian drove the rest of the course as smoothly as possible, and is proud that he won third place for his country. “I never expected to get into the drive-off. It was already a surprise that I was allowed to drive the World Cup final here in Leipzig. Due to my circumstances I drive the indoors with my outdoor team. It may not sound very professional, but I hadn’t really studied the drive-off, because I didn’t think I would qualify for it. That’s why I was searching a bit in the obstacles. I’m really proud of my horses, how they’ve achieved this, and I’m thrilled to be on the podium next to these two.”

Click here for the results

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1. Bram Chardon (NED) 258,72
2. Boyd Exell (AUS) 262,83
3. Glenn Geerts (BEL) 323,73

Without drive off:

4. Dries Degrieck (BEL) 159,68
5. Koos de Ronde (NED) 166,18
6. Michael Brauchle (GER) 166,79
7. Mareike Harm (GER) 173,56

Watch Bram’s winning round here

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