16 December 2017
London Olympia: IJsbrand Chardon claims victory
After a phenomenal drive in a sold out arena, IJsbrand Chardon from the Netherlands claimed his third victory in the FEI World Cup™ Driving leg at London Olympia. Chardon finished ahead of strong performing Glenn Geerts from Belgium and favourite Boyd Exell from Australia.
Glenn Geerts
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
After Glenn Geerts gave everything he had with in the Winning Round with his new team of horses, it was Chardon’s turn. The four-times World Champion managed to finish no less than five seconds faster than his time in the first round (128,22) and herewith put the pressure on Boyd’s shoulders. Boyd however had set a top time of 125,23 seconds in the first round and new all odds were open since they started from scratch again in Johan Jacobs’ course. But the reigning World Cup Champion made a few mistakes in the first part of the course and missed the finish line in the end, which resulted in extra time and penalty seconds for knockdowns.
Chardon was very happy with his third win after 2013 and 2015. He also won the try-out competition at London Olympia in 2011. “My goal was to finish in the top three in the first round and that worked out well. My horses were a little less united than on Friday, but that is the lack of experience of my new leader horses. I gave it all in the second round and could not go any faster. I will use the next two months towards Bordeaux to give this team even more experience and speed.
Ijsbrand won a very special prize, a Goodwood Fly in a Spitfire Experience. Chardon, Glenn and Boyd furthermore received a Goodwood Performance Track Experience and Hotel vouchers and all drivers received a Daylesford ‘Big Day’ Hampers, all kindly donated by Hugh and Karen Scott-Barrett
Glenn’s plan was also to finish in the top three. After his disappointing results in Stockholm, the future father performed very well at Olympia, where he had top three placing’s in all three competitions: “I have been very consistent all week and I am happy to see the indoor training I did after Stockholm has paid off. This is a big step forward for me. I will use my wild card in Mechelen to stay in the rhythm and I have to finish in the top three in Leipzig in order to make it to the Final.”
Boyd had an early ball in the Winning Round and had no choice than to push his team with his new left leader horse even more: “Then I had a second ball and it all became a bit messy. But life goes on, I had a wild card here so it does not affect my score on the leader board.”
Koos de Ronde missed the Winning Round by a fraction of a second as Glenn was 0,03 seconds faster. But because of Boyd’s wild card start, Koos has received the points for the third place and is now in third position in the standings behind leader Boyd Exell and IJsbrand Chardon.
Benjamin Aillaud had two knockdowns and finished in fifth place, ahead of Chester Weber for whom Olympia was his last start for World Cup points. Chester has competed in four competitions already and is currently in sixth place in the standings. The successful American driver will compete in Mechelen and Leipzig with wild cards.
Second wild card competitor at Olympia Dan Naprous from Great Britain was very proud at his horses and happy to have been able to compete against the world’s best drivers.
Results CAI-W London Olympia:
- IJsbrand Chardon (NED) 128,22
- Glenn Geerts (BEL) 137,94
- Boyd Exell (AUS) 160,88
- Koos de Ronde (NED) 137,76
- Benjamin Aillaud (FRA) 148,40
- Chester Weber (USA) 151,30
- Daniel Naprous (GBR) 164,15
Standings after 5 out of 7 competitions:
1 Boyd EXELL AUS 30
2 IJsbrand CHARDON NED 22
3 Koos DE RONDE NED 15
4 Edouard SIMONET BEL 12
4 Georg VON STEIN GER 12
6 Chester WEBER USA 11
7 Glenn GEERTS BEL 9
8 Bram CHARDON NED 8
9 Jérôme VOUTAZ SUI 7
9 Benjamin AILLAUD FRA 7
