After a very long wait of 26 hours and 57 minutes, Rose Oatley had her seventh European Championship gold medal hanging around her neck at the FEI European Championships for Dressage Juniors at Schafhof. 26 hours and 57 minutes lay between the announcement of her own result and the last one after 70 participants in the junior individual task, the peiker CEE GmbH prize. "For more than a day I've actually just hoped that things would turn out well for me in the end," admits the 16-year-old with a laugh. “Sommi (summer night) was so super concentrated in the test yesterday, I actually only had to ride through. I really didn't expect to be on the top of the podium here." With a personal best result of 78.030 percent, the daughter of four-time Olympic participant Kristy Oatley and her eight-year-old mare Sommernacht secured her first individual medal in junior class, the gold medal.
In 2021, Rose and Daddy Moon became three-time European pony rider champions, a year earlier it was team gold. Last year she was part of the gold junior team with Veneno, two days ago there was team gold again at the Schafhof and now the individual gold medal. Rose's biggest fan and co-owner of her champion mare Sommernacht, grandmother Rosalind, came from Australia. "The other part of Midsummer Night belongs to my great-grandmother, Valerie Oatley," Rose proclaims, beaming. This gold medal was an absolute family success.
The silver medal went to Allegra Schmitz-Morkramer and the eleven-year-old stallion Libertad. "On Thursday we still had our problems in the arena because Libertad got a bit scared," says the silver winner. “Today he was super motivated but focused at the same time. He's a rather shy horse to handle and you wouldn't think he's a stallion. But in the arena he flips the switch and is there.” As with the winner, everyone agreed on the ranking of the European runner-up and awarded a score of 76.794 percent. The 17-year-old won double gold at the Junior European Championships last year, riding the Londontime son there too. In 2019 she came home from the Children's European Championships with triple gold, one year she already won team gold with the juniors - in these two years she sat on Lavissaro.
With 74.088 percent, Lana-Pinou Baumgurt and her nine-year-old Emma took bronze. "Emma is still a very young horse," sums up the 18-year-old. “We have had them since 2021 and I immediately got off with a smile after my first ride. Today she presented herself very well, I'm very proud of her."
European Junior Dressage Championships have been held since 1973. For the 29th time in Kronberg, the individual gold medal went to a German couple. For the seventh time, the German dressage juniors occupied the entire podium. Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen has been the national coach for the U18 riders since 2001. It was under his aegis that all individual medals went to his protégés for the fourth time.
Splinters on the edge: Stallion owner Ingo Pape was also a guest in Kronberg and was beaming - for two reasons: he is the breeder of the victorious Sommernacht and co-owner of Libertad, who placed second. The prospect of the medal women on the European ChampionshipsRose Oatley: "We have a really great Robin Hood freestyle, my mother and I chose the music together. Tomorrow I will ride this freestyle for the first time and I am really looking forward to it.”
Allegra Schmitz-Morkramer: "My freestyle doesn't have a special motto, the music just goes really well with the horse. My mother helped me a lot with the freestyle, she does have a say, after all, Libertad belongs to her (laughs)."
Lana-Pinou: Our freestyle is based on the style of the 80s and also contains a lot of my own favorite music. In addition, a friend of our family did the freestyle for us, so it really is a real family project. Organizer trio highly satisfied After four out of five European Championship days or after eight out of nine tournament days, if you add the four-star tournament of the past week, the organizer family Linsehoff-Rath draws a first conclusion.
It is the fourth junior European Championship to be held at the Schafhof - after the European Championships in 1981 and 1984, the married couple Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff and Klaus-Martin Rath were the tournament directors for the first time at the Euro 2010. In 2023, responsibility for the European Championship was in the hands of Matthias Alexander Rath for the first time. The 38-year-old father of three was happy about the sporting achievements of the U18 and U14 riders, but also enjoyed – or even a little more – the happy togetherness among the riders from 28 nations. "Of course, the super strong performances of the young German riders are particularly impressive, but we also saw many other nations behind them who showed great tests: Denmark, Great Britain, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, France - many nations had and have really good couples at the start here. This promotes our sport immensely. In addition, the interaction between the nations is just great. They meet in the stable tent for a cross-national barbecue at the truck parking lot and I've already seen one or the other creative Tik-Tok video," says Rath happily. “And the Nations Evening was an absolute highlight for me. I was really happy about the exuberant atmosphere, including the pool party in our fountain, and it emphasized the spirit of a European championship again." Of course, two tournament weeks in a row are exhausting, the build-up started three weeks ago, "...but we really have a smallace team that pulled along from the start. So the event has been running really smoothly so far.”
Rath has full support in his work from his own family. Stepmother Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff beams at the thought of the past few days: "I'm particularly happy about the great cooperation between the nations. At the national evening, all countries put on a small performance and brought typical food and drinks with them. That was great. Actually, we didn't plan a party after that, but in the end it turned into a very boisterous party (laughs)."
Last but not least, the handing over of the baton was of particular importance for father Klaus-Martin Rath: "Of course it is always difficult when the parents create a big event and the children have to continue it. You can't force your children to continue this dream. Luckily Matthias wanted that from the beginning and the event is a complete success. And he applied straight away for the U21 and U25 European Championships in two years' time and was accepted. I think that's great." (KiK/pe&pa)
