Budapest, August 2021. The World Vaulting Championships for Seniors took place a year late, it was originally scheduled for 2020. A championship characterized of strong emotions, of transition due to the historical moment we are living, but also because it marked the entrance of a new generation of athletes. Some of the most experienced vaulters took the field in Budapest for the last time, while the new generation reached high levels, undermining a bit the old masters.
Expectations, bitterly disappointing occasions and huge satisfactions were as always mixed up together, blending into each other with degrading colors, never with clear borders.
Emotions at the opening
The kermesse officially begun with the opening ceremony, a beautiful heart-felt show, despite the little audience the anti-covid measures allowed. The flags of 22 nations fluttered in the biting wind of the Hungarian evening. 63 were the individuals, of which 24 males, 13 pas de deux and 8 squads. The numbers are all there to ensure a thrilling event. The athletes’ parade and the funny show offered by the OC helped to break the ice and to immerge to the heart of the event, after the short speeches of the FEI authorities.
The overall organization was great, and more than satisfying the facility, at least from the audience perspective. The only problem is that the space devoted to the public was not much, but that something to bear in mind mostly for some potential future event, with a larger audience. Apart from that, the riding all was bright and well illuminated, the acoustic excellent.
Day one: compulsories
The compulsories are the least exciting test of each competition, certainly a bit more boring than the others, but essential nonetheless. A bad round can seriously jeopardize the whole competition, rarely one can make up so many places just with the freestyle alone. With the compulsories, one can already start to outline what will be of the race.
Day two: freestyles, password “to be remembered”
The second day of the event, the one of the first freestyle, is probably the most crucial for everyone. All the vaulters face the first (and for some, unfortunately, the only one) big step to overcome. Only the fifteen best competitors will advance to the final round. The tension is high. After the compulsories the games are not over yet, the freestyle can always reserve some surprises, but for many it is very hard.
The free test, the most beautiful, imaginative round. The vaulters present themselves at their best: every exercise is treated in every detail, not just technical, but chorographical as well, which includes the music but also the choice of the costumes, which is chosen, most of the time, to amaze. The password is to be rememberd! Sometimes you can see how least impressive exercises from a technical point of view, have more “success” because of their beautiful interpretation. And the 2021 edition was nonetheless. Funnily, the over-the-top costumes are seen more often on the male athletes than in the girls’ division. The impression is that there is still much room to improvement among the ladies. Among their performances there is still a clean distinction in style and technic, they keep evolving, getting more and more complex and closer to the males’ performances, with lots of strengths exercises, that have little to envy to the boys’. Vice versa, you can see male athletes performing flexibility exercises, that are definitely not a female prerogative anymore, and the choreographic elements, enter the judgement in a preponderant and decisive way, giving space to well interpreted routines, without any technical difficulties, but that are just beautiful to watch. This is certainly the new frontier.
…. and Nations Team Event
Besides the qualification to the final round, the second day also awards the first medal of the championships: the one of the Nation Team Event. I do not particularly like the way this class is thought, but just because it gives space to a possible distortion in the final individual ranking and possibly (but not this time) in that of the squads. The title of the Nation Team Event is awarded to the Nation which gains the highest score overall, combining the scores of two individual freestyles and a squad freestyle. There wouldn’t be anything wrong, if the routines of this event wouldn’t also be considered valid for the other events tests. That is not right because the contestants (some of the individuals in this instance) do not perform their routine in the same session as the others and, despite the judges being the same, the scores of a routine performed in the morning and in the afternoon may be different. Moreover, there are some athletes that compete both individually and in the squad and therefore must perform two demanding routine one right after the other, without a pause in-between. Maybe it would be less spectacular and exciting, but in my opinion, it would be more correct, if the ranking would just be made at the end of the individuals and squad rounds.
However, Germany is once again the world champion. The freestyle performed by Team Fredenbeck, Janika Derks and Jannik Heiland allowed their nation to stand above all competitors. The team was beyond exceptional, so much so that the audience shook the entire arena with enthusiastic applauses. With his performance, Jannik Heiland confirms himself as the most challenging competitor to France’s Lambert Leclezio. Austria gains the second place, while Team Denmark ended up with great satisfaction on the third step of the podium.
You can see the ranking here.
Day three: the final begins
On the third day of competition the final round begins, in the individual class only the fifteen best vaulters of the first round can access. Surprisingly, the foreplay ends with some exceptional exclusions, one for all that of Germany’s Jannis Drewell (Simone Drewell, Qualimero OLD), whose horse endangered his freestyle with sudden restlessness, not just drastically lowering his scores but also basically preventing him to perform many elements of his routine.
The technical test is probably the most challenging round for everyone. Some of the elements cause difficulties even to the most experienced vaulters, therefore falls and imperfections are always around the corner. On the other hand, when they manage to perform a clean routine, the satisfaction is clear.
Lambert Leclezio’s (L. Devedu, Estado IFCE) performance is definitely to be remembered, the only one to gain a score above 9, but also Juan Martin Clavijo’s (COL, M. Heuer, Don Dorador), which impressed due to the originality of some movements which underlined Juan’s incredible flexibility, and Eva Nagiller’s (AUT, K. Haidacher, Dr. Doolittle 5), the best among the girls.
Pas de Deux
The pairs conclude the third day of competition. The medals of the event can now be awarded. Germany’s Janika Derks and Johannes Kay (N. Vorberg, Humphrey Bogard OLD) take the gold, but their compatriots Justin Van Gerven and Chiara Congia (A. Knauf, Highlight), 2019 European champions, battled ‘til the end for the highest step of the podium. Both routines are brilliant, technically impressive, a delight for the eyes. Also the performance by the American pair Haley Smith and Daniel Janes (C. Bland, Diva 506) was fascinating to watch, and rightfully claimed the bronze medal. The pair already made a name for itself at the past world championships, but this time was definitely more mature. They also showed a good amount of boldness, since they surprisingly performed two different freestyles in music, choreography and exercises, in the two rounds. Both routines were impressive, but the second one definitely met with the judges’ favour.
Here to see the complete ranking.
Final day: let’s open with the squads
That Germany (G. Buhrig, Claus 51) would have won the team gold medal there was no doubt since day one, thanks to the huge gap between the German eagles and their best contestant since the compulsories. From the second place onward, however, the result was not that obvious. Austria, Denmark and the USA competed for the remaining medals, all of them performing great routines. Team Austria (C. Trimmel, Leokado), that couldn’t compete on the back of their historical four-legged companion Alessio L’Amabile, appeared to be a little more shaky than usual, but still managed to win the second place, while the United States (C. Bland, Diva 506) ended up on the third step of the podium. With this result, together with the bronze medal in pas de deux, the USA are back at the top of the vaulting world stage.
Congratulations to Team Denmark, too, which fought more than honorably, and to Team Sweden (D. Fiskbaek, Beaveheart), that was forced to perform the final freestyle with just five vaulters, due to an injury. It is definitely not easy to arrange a whole routine meant for six vaulters around five of them. However, they managed to perform their routine just as fine and to conclude their world championship.
The individuals’ grand finale
In the individual class, the games were open up to the very end. Among the males, the top place was contested between Lambert Leclezio and Jannik Heiland, chased by Theo Gardies (FRA, S. Langlois, Ultrachic HDC) and Juan Martin Clavijo intended to perform at their best. Quentin Jabet (FRA, M. Bousignac-Dumont, St. Louis 2) and Germany’s Thomas Brusewitz (A. Knauf, Eyecatcher), despite being fearsome contestants, do not seem to be able to concern the top positions, due to some errors in the previous rounds. However, at this level every round tells a new story, so Quentin Jabet performs the best freestyle of the day, and gains the fourth place overall in the final ranking. On the other hand, Juan Martin Clavijo pays the prize of the tension and performs a routine below his standards. He will end up sixth. Being at the top of the leaderboard, Lamber Leclezio is the last one to compete, right after a mesmerizing performance by Jannik Heiland, so far first in the provisional ranking. Lambert’s routine is not perfect. The seconds passing while on the kiss and cry seems to last an eternity… but in the end he is still on top. For the third time in a row, he is the world champion. France did not manage to get all the medals, but surely its vaultng will be from now on one to look up to. It didn’t just place all its three athletes in the first four position, but also you can notice how Jannik Heiland changed his vaulting style to one that closely resembles the French one.
The female finale is also full of suspense. Jasmin Lindner (AUT, K. Haidacher, Dr. Doolittle 5) is at the top of the leaderboard, but Janika Derks (GER, B. Rosiny, Dark Beluga), her fellow Austrian and teammate Eva Nagiller and the Danish Sheena Bendixen (L. Kristensen, Klintholms Ramstein) are closely behind. Also France’s Manon Moutinho (C. Bosshard, Saitiri) may be part of the game, since she gained positions after each round; and then there is always Austria’s Katharina Luschin (L. Kalcher-Prein, Louis Bonheur), the reigning european champion, that cannot be underestimate. Manon Moutinho gives her very best, as Janika Derks does. Sheena Bendixen performs a solid routine as well, while Katherina Luschin on the other hand is not perfect. Eva Nagiller is outstanding up to the very last moment, when she unexpectedly slips from the horse. Jasmin Lindner is a war machine! She does not miss a move, technically she is perfect. Her victory is well deserved, behind her remain Janika Derks and Eva Nagiller.
So it ends the 2021 World Vaulting Championships, we will be seeing another next year in Denmark. We won’t see all the protagonists of this year’s, some of them already announced their retirement, like the hungarian Balazs Bence, but it will be a great show nonetheless.
Hoping that the pandemic will finally come to an end, and that we will be back to a more normal way of life at the competition as well as in life, we only have to thank all of those who leave competitive vaulting for good, wishing good luck and good work to all the others and see you all next summer!
