Articles: Horse News
U.S. Storms to Bronze Medal with Weber Claiming Individual Silver at FEI
Four-in-Hand Driving World Championships
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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 19, 2012
By Helen Murray
Reisenbeck, Germany- The United States travelled to Reisenbeck with their
sights firmly set-on capturing Team and Individual honors at the 2012 FEI
Four-in-Hand Driving World Championships.
And they did just that.
The U.S. team of Chester Weber, Jimmy Fairclough and Joe Yoder was a mixture
of youth and experience but proved to be formidable group as they stormed to
the Team Bronze. Additionally, Weber added to his medal haul as he also
clinched the Individual Silver.
Heading into the cones phase the U.S., standing fourth, was within striking
distance of a podium finish, just seven points behind Sweden. Led by the
experience of Weber and Fairclough, who were members of U.S. Silver medal
winning teams at the World Championships in 2002 and 2010, the
U.S. capitalized on the mistakes of Sweden. They were able edge the Swedish
by 2/10s of a point finishing on an overall score of 289.11; claiming third
place honors.
"I am thrilled. Everyone is quite excited here," said U.S. Chef d'Equipe Ed
Young. "I'm over the moon; everything went extremely well today."
Weber (Ocala, FL) headed into the final phase standing in second place
overnight on a score of 127.80. Driving his own Boy W, Para, and Jane
Clark's Splash and Uniek, he drove a near flawless cones course adding just
three points to his score.
The success in Reisenbeck was the second time Weber has claimed Individual
honors at a World Championship, in 2008 he also claimed the Silver
Individual medal at the FEI Four-in-Hand Driving World Championships in
Beesd, The Netherlands.
Weber, an eight-time USEF National Champion, prepared diligently for the
2012 World Championship spending much of the summer competing and training
in Europe. All the hard work paid-off as he claimed Team and Individual
honors for the first time in his illustrious career.
Fairclough (Newtown, NJ) has been a longstanding member of the U.S. Driving
Team and has played a vital part in the U.S. claiming its three Team World
Championship medals in the past 10 years. On Sunday, he drove his own Levin,
Charlie Brown, and Kavango von Falkenstein as well as Patsy Wooten's
Valentino to a fourth place cones finish with a score of 1.29.
He finished on an overall score of 158.3 in 14th place. His strong final
phase allowed for Fairclough to rise from 16th following the marathon and
claim his spot among the top 15 Four-in-Hand drivers in the world.
Yoder (Zwartewaal, The Netherlands ) was making his debut at an FEI
Four-in-Hand Driving World Championships in Reisenbeck and gained valuable
experience. On Sunday he drove to a 35.23 cones score with the de Ronde's
Caletta, Majoor and Ruby as well as Misdee Wrigley Miller's Sarasko. He
finished on an overall score of 242.82 for 43rd place.
In the Team Championship, the Dutch repeated as World Champions finishing on
a score of 256.17, with the Germans claiming Silver finishing on
271.18. Australia's Boyd Exell also retained his World Champion status on an
overall score of 122.01. Finishing behind Weber and earning Bronze was The
Netherlands' Ysbrand Chardon with a score of 131.29.
The U.S. Driving Team next heads to Lezirias, Portugal for the FEI World
Championship for Singles September 9-16, 2012.
"I hope we can repeat this great success next month at the Singles," said
Young.
ENDS
For orders of go and results click here.
Follow the 2012 U.S. Driving Team here.
The vision of the United States Equestrian Federation is to provide
leadership
for equestrian sport in the United States of America by promoting the
pursuit
of excellence from the grassroots to the Olympic Games, based on a
foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare
of its human and equine athletes
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