World Championship title in Lanaken for Rolf-Göran Bengtsson with Casall son Caillan
Ahlmann was the fastest in the jump-off of the seven-year-olds at the World Championships in Lanaken - no, not Christian, the partner of the landlady of Zangersheide, but Hannes, the talent from Schleswig-Holstein. Riding Tokyo (Toulon x Cassini) bred and owned by Jürgen Böge, he set a time of 38.41 seconds that none of the other seven competitors in the jump-off could match. But then, at the last jump, the Holstein mare slightly touched the front bar of the oxer with her hindquarters and it fell. In the end, it was fourth place instead of gold.
This was won by another rider, who has a Swedish passport, but has also been at home in Schleswig-Holstein for many years: Rolf-Göran Bengtsson came within half a second of the best time with Caillan (Casall x Carry), but was above all faultless. He had successfully demonstrated how to handle a Casall for many years all over the world, now he also won the World Champion title on the Holsteiner son of his former successful partner, bred and owned by Gerd Ohlsen, who lives on the island of Föhr. Together, Rolf-Göran Bengtsson and Caillan had first become Holstein National Champions this year, then won the Bundeschampionat - now the ultimate coronation followed in Lanaken.
The Holstein Swede had already known at the start that he would not only have to be faultless, but also fast in order to win. After him, the more famous Ahlmann was the last to start: And Christian Ahlmann had already impressively demonstrated the ability of the Zangersheide stallion Dourkhan Hero Z (Don't Touch Tiji Hero x Zandor) in the qualification rounds. With a clear 41.55 seconds in the jump-off, he could not catch Bengtsson but secured the silver medal for Zangersheide. "I tried to ride my turns with this young horse in the same way as with my experienced horses," Christian Ahlmann said afterwards, "but today I learned that it doesn't always work out the way you hope. After the Longines double jump, I knew it would be difficult to improve on Rolf's time, so I settled for 2nd place." Third place under Olivier Phillipaerts was the Cornet Obolensky and Casall mix, Precious Dwerse Hagen.
Before this final of the seven-year-olds, it had been about the world champion titles of the five- and the six-year-olds.
In the five-year-old class, the Irish rider Gerard O'neill won the World Championship title with Bp Goodfellas (by Stakkato Gold) ahead of Olivier van der Vaart on Ristretto vd Heffinck (by Aldo du Plessis) and Jarno van Erp on Mindset Es (by Aganix du Seigneur). And the jump-off of the six-year-olds also ended with an Irish winner: Ethen Ahearne on ABC Savin Grace (by Kannan) ahead of Valentin Pacaud on Garance de Vains (by Diamant de Semilly) and Alex David Gill on Lacoste VDL (by VDL Zirocco Blue).
