VAULTING is probably the most colourful of all equestrian disciplines: young athletes in artful leotards, jumping on and off horses, flying through the air and dancing to music on and around their horse with frenetic spectators cheering them on – that’s Vaulting for you. Lest we forget that Vaulting has been around for centuries and was originally designed as a means to train and perfect both balance and complicity between horse and rider. While the performance has altered, Vaulting remains an excellent test of stability and synchronicity.
The 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games will see the Vaulting competitions take place during the first week in the Deutsche Bank Stadium. The stadium will be covered with a temporary roof in order to provide optimal conditions in which to perform. Vaulting is, intrinsically, an indoor sport as one can imagine how badly weather might affect a performance, where some difficult, high moves and figures are rendered too risky or even impossible. This was made all too clear at the CHIO Aachen this year, where the Vaulting competitions had to be relocated from the roofless stadium into the Albert Vahle Halle due to heavy rain and storms.
This year, there will be three Vaulting gold medals in the running: the team competition and the individual male and female competitions. Vaulters from 23 countries will take part, although winning one of the prized medals is not necessarily on the minds of all these participants. Indeed, there are many countries taking part in Vaulting for the very first time, such as Colombia, or for the second time, such as Russia and South Africa. It is always a pleasure to see how the community supports these new and 'exotic' Vaulting nations to make their participation possible through clinics with experienced coaches, or by providing well-trained horses not to mention the hearty applauses echoing from the arena.
The German Vaulters are the big favourites in the the battle for the medals. One is tempted to say 'as always' since Germany has won 23 out of 30 World Champion titles so far. Although it might prove difficult to win all three titles this year, particularly given the changes in the FEI Rules for Vaulting Events introduced last year which had for effect to slightly decrease the German dominance and allow other countries to get a little closer. For example, last year at the European Championships, which were the first ever held according to the new rules, Slovakia won the team competition for the first time leaving Germany with 'only' two out of four possible titles.
The new rules brought about the following major changes:
• There are always six judges, three of whom judge solely the horse, while the other three judge solely the vaulters.
• Individual vaulters have to perform a technical test in the second round instead of compulsories.
• Teams are reduced from eight to six vaulters and there is no age-limit anymore (previously 18 years).
• Vaulters older than 18 years can either compete in the team event or individual event, but not in both.
The 2006 FEI WEG are the first World Championships to apply these new rules and everyone is impatient to see if last year’s surprise contenders in the European Championships, in particular Slovakia and Austria, will keep up the pace and fight for medals in Aachen.
In general, each country can enter three female and three male individual Vaulters and one team consisting of six plus one reserve vaulter. According to the nominated entries, 15 teams, 33 individual male and 55 individual female vaulters will compete in Aachen, which is a healthy increase when compared to the last World Championships in Austria where 10 teams, 26 male and 41 female Vaulters competed.
The individual competitions consist of 4 tests: in the first round compulsories and free style, and in the second round, for which only the 15 best Vaulters of the first round are qualified, there is the technical test and the final free style. The final score is the summation of all 4 tests. In the team competition there are only 3 tests: in the first round compulsories and free style, and in the second round (with the 12 best teams) there is only the final free style. The scoring system in Vaulting is quite complex, the final score being the combination of many sub-scores, added together, divided again, and so on. The highest score is 10.0 while the lowest is 0. But quite often, the difference between winning and losing can come down to a thousandth of a point.
Individual Female
Among the Vaulting ladies, the 2006 edition is set to provide a very interesting battle for the medals. There is no big favourite as last year’s two top-vaulters are injured. While titleholder Nicola Ströh from Germany is on the entry list, few people would dare to bet on her because she injured her knee for the second time four months ago after having already spent a year recovering from a torn cruciate ligament. Nicola herself is positive that she will be able to compete and defend her title in Aachen, but she knows she will be facing fierce competition. Unfortunately, double silver medalist Rikke Laumann’s (DEN) hopes to defend her title have been put aside following an injury that occurred at CVI Houten in July. Indeed, her Vaulting season was cut short when during a dismount she fell and tore a cruciate ligament.
Regarding the results of this year’s CVIs, there might be about five ladies that could possibly win gold or a spot on the podium. Anja Barwig (GER), 2005 European Champion, will definitely try to be on top again although her last appearance, CVI Munich, was not promising (placed 6th). Sissi Jarz (AUT), 2005 European bronze medalist, is in excellent form and has already won 3 CVIs this year alone (Brno, Stadl-Paura and Munich). Her freestyle with the theme 'Swanlake' is beautiful to watch, and despite the high technical complexity, it is fluent and elegant while her horse Escudo Fox is much calmer and more reliable than last year. The 18-year old Megan Benjamin (USA) was very impressive at CVI Munich, where she earned second place. Competing on the German horse Centuro, she has good chances to win a medal in Aachen. And last but not least, there is Ines Jückstock (GER), one of the most experienced vaulters of all time, holding 2 bronze medals at World level and 3 from European Championships. With her excellent technique in compulsories and a very dynamic free style she will definitely be a contender for a spot on the podium.
If not a medal then perhaps in the top ten, we can expect some interesting newcomers: the small, 14-year old French girl Sarah D'Auriol who surprised all at CVI Munich by coming 8th; the Austrian Vaulters Jasmin Gipperich and Kathi Faltin came very close to the top three, placing 4th and 5th respectively in Munich; or even Switzerland’s Marion Graf, Sabrina Mettler and Angela Wildhaber, often rubbing shoulders in the top 5.
So everyone is curious to see if there will be a new female World Champion this year, and perhaps, even the first one ever not to be of German nationality.
Individual male
In contrast to the female competition with no obvious favourite, there is one Vaulter that has dominated the male individual Vaulting scene for the past two years: Kai Vorberg from Germany with his reliable horse Picasso. Whoever wants to be the new World Champion in Aachen, will have to beat Kai first. The German vaulter from Cologne is not only the title holder, he also won all major CVIs this year (Stadl-Paura, Wiesbaden, and Munich) and with his funny, well-choreographed “Mozart” free style he is well-prepared for Aachen.
But Kai has one big opponent: Matthias Lang from France, double World Champion (2000, 2002) and one of the best Vaulters with his very unique style. His moves on his tall horse Farceur Breceen are smooth, elegant and fluent, yet dynamic and powerful while Matthias is well-known for his sensitive interpretation of music and emotional choreographies. Matthias retired in 2003 and had a one-year break before he made a comeback at the 2004 World Championships, where he went on to win silver, being defeated only by Kai Vorberg. Chances are that it will be a fierce duel between these two Vaulters again in Aachen.
Of course there are other vaulters with chances for medals as well, maybe even for gold: Petr Eim from Slovakia, who is very talented and technically brilliant but is slightly disadvantaged by his small horse Catalin; Martin Ararat (ESP) with his ever-spectacular free styles; or Gero Meyer and Tim Randy-Sia from Germany. Chances for a top five result might also have Nicolas Andreani (FRA), Stefan Czandl (AUT), Patrick Looser (SUI) and the newcomer Lukas Klouda (CZE).
Teams
The team competition is definitely the most spectacular to watch with 3 vaulters together on the horse performing acrobatic and artistic moves and figures high above the ground. It is also the only discipline where athletes of very different age-groups compete together and within the same team, for example, in the American team the youngest vaulter is 10 while the eldest is 31 years of age. This team, the FAME Vaulters from California, will be a good bet for a medal. Part of the team is Devon Maitozo, individual World Champion at the 1998 FEI World Equestrian Games in Rome, famous for his eccentric and very creative choreographies. His style with surprising, unusual and very difficult transitions can be seen in the team free style, which was awarded first place at CVI Munich in July. This result definitely puts them at the top of the list.
However, the team competition is still very open and there is no major favourite this year. There are about five teams who are good enough to win gold. And in the end, it probably will be a matter of luck and nerves.
The titleholder is Germany, represented in 2004 by the club VV Ingelsberg. But this year it is the team from RSV Neuss-Grimlinghausen who will wear the black-red-gold uniforms. Unfortunately, as they did not compete at any big CVI this year, it is hard to tell how good they are in comparison to the other top teams. Slovakia, 2005 European Champions, will definitely try to win a medal again while Austria, 2005 European bronze medalists, will be dangerous. They have three good individual vaulters on their team and surprised the Vaulting public last year by winning gold with their junior-team. And let’s not forget Switzerland, Germany’s big opponent for the past years, represented in Aachen by the three-fold World Champion RC St.Gallen with their horse Le Grand.
Good performances in Vaulting are achieved through solid teamwork between the lounger, the Vaulter and the horse as well as a touch of luck thrown in. While everything is possible, spectator enjoyment remains consistently high; indeed, a great show is always on the cards. Tickets are almost sold out and the interest in this once small and obscure discipline is increasing considerably every year. This pleases not only the organizers in Aachen but most of all the Vaulters themselves, who more than deserve to be in the spotlight with their fantastic performances.
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World Champions for the past 20 years:
Female
1986 Silke Bernhard (GER)
1988 Silke Bernhard (GER)
1990 Silke Bernhard (GER)
1992 Barbara Strobel (GER)
1994 Tanja Benedetto (GER)
1996 Tanja Benedetto (GER)
1998 Nadia Zülow (GER)
2000 Nadia Zülow (GER)
2002 Nadia Zülow (GER)
2004 Nicola Ströh (GER)
Male
1986 Dietmar Otto (GER)
1988 Christioph Lensing (GER)
1990 Michael Lehner (GER)
1992 Christioph Lensing (GER)
1994 Thomas Fiskbaek (DEN)
1996 Christioph Lensing (GER)
1998 Devon Maitozo (USA)
2000 Matthias Lang (FRA)
2002 Matthias Lang (FRA)
2004 Kai Vorberg (GER)
Teams
1986 Germany
1988 Switzerland
1990 Switzerland
1992 Germany
1994 Switzerland
1996 Germany
1998 Germany
2000 Germany
2002 Germany
2004 Germany
Campus
