25 September 2022
WCH Pratoni del Vivaro: Gold for the Netherlands and sixth world title for Boyd Exell
An extremely selective cones course made today a very exciting final day at the World Four-in-Hand Championship. Bram Chardon was the only one who drove clear and within the time limit. Boyd Exell stayed focused until the very last moment and did not relinquish his lead. IJsbrand Chardon took the silver.The course had many tricky turns and combinations. In addition, the amount of rain increased during the afternoon, but the footing held up well. Where the horses got too excited, some drivers had their hands full getting them right in front of the right gate. In addition to the difficult course, the time allowed was also hard to achieve, but it was possible! Bram Chardon proved that.
Podium nations from left to right Germany (silver), The Netherlands (gold), Belgium (bronze)
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
Increased pressure
Bram steered his team flawlessly through the course at a high pace. It looked so easy when he went around and the release of pressure for the Dutch was great when he crossed the finish line, because the lead over competitor Germany was greatly increased. Mareike Harm (Germany) drove fluently, but at too low a pace and scored 4.89 penalty points for exceeding the time. After his great marathon, Koos de Ronde was a little less fortunate in his cones course and knocked off three balls, two of which were only at the end of the course. Ijsbrand Chardon drove as aggressively as his son and left everything behind. Only 2.35 penalty points for exceeding the time were added to his score and with that the gold for the Netherlands was certain and he assured himself of an individual medal. Penultimate starter Michael Brauchle had a small chance to win silver and failed. He tapped a ball on gate 16 and came in too slow. His 7.71 was enough to take home a bronze medal and IJsbrand climbed to silver.
Unique performance
Boyd Exell had some margin for faults, but it turned out that it was not easy to keep faults in the course to a minimum. He drove in with a high level of focus. In the course everything was right, with only one gate being very lucky. With 5.92 penalty points for time he won his sixth world title. Immediately afterwards, it all still feels a bit unreal for the world champion. “It was to be expected that Bram and IJsbrand would drive a good cones course. You work towards this over a period of two to three years and at the moment you are still so busy managing everything that you do not realize what you are doing,” he analyzes his unique achievement.
He sets a new record with this sixth world title in succession. “I am especially happy with my horses. They do the work and have been doing it all season. Especially my leaders were fantastic. Both in dressage and today in cones. My horses have earned this.” How is he going to celebrate? “There will be a bottle or two of champagne going around tonight.”
Boyd Exell
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
Team performance
Bram Chardon had to change another horse for the vet check. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy and I wanted to increase the pressure for Boyd,” he says immediately afterwards. “I knew I was in shape for the cones and wanted to secure the gold for the team before my father started. For me it’s great that I climbed from eighth to fourth place today, but in two years I want to be closer to Boyd.” Bram sees the gold team medal as a nice revenge for the World Cup in Tryon, where the Netherlands had silver. “It was a tough battle between us and the Germans. Yesterday my father and Koos delivered a great performance in the marathon. And today I was able to help them a little in the cones. So it was really a team effort to which all three of us contributed. We have proven that we are the best team.”
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Bronze for Michael Brauchle (left), silver for IJsbrand Chardon (middle), gold for Boyd Exell (right)
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
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