National coach Jos Lansink saw the Dutch show jumping riders on Friday around midnight in the Danish Herning with silver at the World Cup to secure participation in the Olympic Games in Paris 2024. Sanne Thijssen, Maikel van der Vleuten, Jur Vrieling and Harrie Smolders did this convincingly.
A place in the top five was needed in the country finals of the World Cup in the football stadium of FC Midtjylland, which was converted into a horse arena. Thanks to a clear round by Smolders, the Dutch team even moved to second place, behind the unapproachable Sweden. ,,I have no words for this,’ said Lansink after the unexpected denouement.
Where most competitors knocked off beams in the final round, Smolders stayed clear with Monaco. He can return on Sunday, together with Van der Vleuten and Vrieling, for the individual final.
The Netherlands had started the final day of the team competition in fourth place. ,,We were a bit behind the times, especially when Maikel and Sanne had driven with four penalty points each. Then Paris seemed to be getting difficult”, Lansink looked back on the final in the Danish night. “When everything turns around like that in the end, that’s unbelievable. You can see how beautiful our sport is. You have to believe in it until the last hurdle and we certainly did. All riders have contributed. The goal was to get a qualification, if you do that with a medal I can’t help but be happy.”
We were a bit behind the times, especially when Maikel and Sanne had driven with four penalty points each. Then Paris seemed to be getting difficult
Thijssen had made a mistake with Con Quidam RB on the middle element of the triple jump, but then also saw that ‘zero rounds’ were scarce in Herning where about 10,000 spectators had a long seat. “I fought for it. My horse has to rely on his fighting spirit and he gave everything today.” said Thijssen, who with the 26th place individually stayed just outside the final places.
Van der Vleuten, Thursday clear with Beauville Z NOP, knocked off a bar on the steep jump. “If I didn’t expect the mistake somewhere, it was an obstacle on those boards. It’s a shame that something like this happens, you can’t turn it back,” responded the number 3 of the Tokyo Games, who starts the individual final in ninth place.
Vrieling was clear with Long John Silver 3, but noted a time penalty, after which Smolders with Monaco NOP helped the Netherlands to silver with a clear round. “We hadn’t quite had luck on our side for two days, but now that it had to happen, it happened. That is wonderful in this atmosphere”, exulted Smolders.
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