Aussies in Medal Contention at WEG Jumping!

Edwina Alexander (AUS) and Cevo Itot du Chateau - 5th in the Individual rankings after day two of jumping
Photograph: Olivia Hamood

After Tuesday's jumping competition at WEG things are looking great for the Aussie Team!

The standings are turned around from yesterday with Edwina Alexander and Cevo Itot du Château putting in a fantastic effort, resulting in a stunning clear round, which landed them in 5th position for the Individual standings. But, wait there's more! The Australian team's outstanding achievements have moved them from 14th to 7th in the Team standings.

Chris Chugg and Vivant were the first Australians into the arena today and they gave the team a great start by executing a beautiful clear round - morale was further improved by Chris and Vivant performing their signature celebratory pirouettes to a chorus of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!!!" from the crowd.

Next Aussie in the spotlight was Matt Williams on Urleven Van De Helle, who only had 4 faults yesterday but didn't have such a good day today and finished on 16.

This was followed by the very accomplished Edwina Alexander and Itot who produced their glorious clear round.Everything then relied on James Patterson-Robinson as the final Aussie rider. For Australia to make it through to the final, James and Niack de l´Abbayeto had to go clear or at most only have 4 faults. No pressure! However, James rose to the occasion admirably and managed to complete the challenging course with only one fence down, meaning Australia qualified for the Team Final competition and are in serious medal contention.

In an interview following his clear round, when asked how he felt about it, Chris Chugg exclaimed, "It's been a very emotional time, I'm not normally an emotional person, but that was a good moment! It's been a very big 7 months on the road with my wife and Vivant, living like gypsy. We sold 9 horses and left our business of 60 horses and clients to be able to do it. We have great coaching staff in Australia and this horse is just bedding in - won't be last time you'll see him - we've done 13 international shows this year and he's just growing. Today was a career defining moment. We purchased Vivant as a 3 yr old and I've had 9 years on him. Normally I sell my horses early, but we decided to keep him. Hopefully, I can keep him until after London - that's the plan!"

Regarding today's challenging course, Chris said, "It's a management job for horse and rider, handling big courses. It's a mental game more than physical game and the horse does 90% of the work."

27 nations are competing in the jumping at WEG and Australia, with Belgium and Sweden, had the best team score of the day, managing only 4 faults. There were only 17 clears from the 119 starters and two them were Australian.
This means that both of goals set by the team have been achieved. Firstly, to make the top 10 at the World Championships and secondly to qualify the team for the London Olympic Games in 2012.
Everything is wide open regarding the medals with Australia on 21.87 just 4.07 penalties behind the competition leaders, Germany and less than one rail from the silver medal position (currently Brazil on 18.49). There are only 6 penalties between 1st and 10th with scores being carried over into the Final, which takes place on Wednesday night at 7.30pm (USA time) in the Main Arena.

Best of luck to our Aussie team - we're all very proud of your achievements and are riding with you!