KRONEBERG, The Netherlands--The U.S. Junior Jumping team won the gold medal in the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Youth Final CSIOJ competition, while the U.S. Young Rider Jumping Team took sixth in its section of the Nations Cup.

U.S. Junior Jumping gold medal team (Photo by Sportfot)Mimi Gochman of New York, N.Y., on Celina BH won the Young Rider Grand Prix.

Both teams were led by Chef d’Equipe Anne Kursinski of Frenchtown, N.J.

The Junior Jumping team included Virginia Bonnie of Upperville, Va., on Efodea, Ansgar Holtgers Jr. of Wellington, Fla., on Elina, Caroline Mawhinney of Woodside, Calif., and Stella Levista and Zayna Rizvi, also of Wellington, on Excellent.

Competition began with a qualification round on Wednesday, Sept. 22, for both teams, with the junior team jumping at 1.40m height and the young riders competing over a 1.45m track.

The Junior Jumping Team qualified for the second and final round of competition in third place in CSIOJ team competition, with strong performances to finish on a total score of four faults,  but all qualified teams would begin with a clean slate of zero for the second round of competition on Saturday.

The Young Rider Team also qualified for the second round of competition in the CSIOY, finishing in sixth place after the first day.

The Young Rider team consisted of Tali Dejong of Golden, Colo., on Heavenly Star, Riley Delbecq of Duck Key, Fla., on Julesraimus de Barisy, Gochman with Celina BH and Caelinn Leahy of Maple Park, Ill., on  Cold Play 31.

 

THE JUNIOR Jumping Team returned for the second round on Saturday, Sept.25, in good fashion, with Mawhinney and Bonnie both securing clear rounds for the team and Holtgers and Rizvi only adding four faults to their individual scores.

Mimi Gochman on Celina BH (Photo by Sportfot)Dropping one of the four-fault tallies, the team finished the competition on final team score of four to place first.

Spain won the silver medal with a total score of five, and Belgium won the bronze, also with a total score of five.

Kursinski said that the team’s performance and learning from the experience will be beneficial for the continued development of the program pipeline.

“The Juniors were extremely motivated and focused," she said. "It was really a great experience for them. We qualified in the top sixth and on Saturday, they all came back and were very strong. It was great to watch. They rode well, the horses jumped well, and the best thing is truly experiencing the team experience. At home it’s always individual, but to represent the United States internationally, you really feel it. There were 12 international teams, and for them to be out there representing their country and feeling proud of their accomplishments reinforces the model that we’ve seen work for our program. For the future success, it’s about getting them started earlier and into this international environment.”

The U.S. Young Rider Jumping Team returned on Saturday planning to improve on their performance from Wednesday.

The team finished on a final score of nine to place sixth place in the CSIOY team competition.

Gochman was clean in both team competition classes.

Dejong finished on a total score of four, while Delbecq added a single rail and one time fault to their second-round total.

Leahy had three down for 12 faults and was the drop score for the team.

Germany finished first on zero faults, with France placing second on four, and Sweden won the bronze with eight faults.

“Overall, this team was great, and we just missed the podium by a time fault," said Kursinski. "It was a tremendous experience for all of them, especially to learn how to deal with their nerves , and there will continue to be learnings from it. Across the board, they’re all taking home an understanding of what they must work on and continue to improve. It’s a wonderful experience, and the competition was very strong, That’s a part of why we invest in bringing future talent to these competitions and why it’s so important for them to experience the successes during the week too.”

Gochman on Celina BH delivered all clear rounds throughout the week of competition, and she won the Young Rider Grand Prix CSIOY in impressive fashion, crossing through the jump-off timers in 42.08 seconds, nearly two seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

Holtgers was second in the Junior Jumping Grand Prix CSIOJ, finishing in 42.65 seconds, just narrowly behind Aurelia Guisson and No Limit vh Legita Hof Z of Belgium who won.

Rizvi was fifth in the class, adding four faults in their jump-off round and finishing with a time of 42.67 seconds.