The curtain has closed on a thrilling season of the Longines the Global Champions League Super Cup in Prague. Olivier (Le Blue Diamond van 't Ruytershof), Nicola Philippaerts (Katanga van het Dingeshof), and their teammate Emily Moffitt (Winning Good) won the final. Earlier this week, they finished third in the semifinal. Sunday afternoon, they took the lead and won after a stunning last round wherein all three riders stayed clear. An amazing apotheosis of this highly regarded competition for the brothers Philippaerts.
Prague was the battleground for the ultimate climax of the Longines Global Champions Tour. The Swedish Henrik von Eckermann (King Edward) already won the individual competition on Saturday, while the team competition's final took place on Sunday.
Friday night, the London Knights concluded the semifinal third. Olivier got one fence down as well as a time fault. Also Nicola got 5 penalty points. Their British teammate Emily Moffit ended with 9 penalty points. A total of 18 brought them to the third place.
On Sunday, it was time for the ultimate final. The London Knights took, as the youngest team of all, the lead. Olivier opened with five penalty points, his other teammates followed with one point each. In the second round, all three of them stayed clear. A strong performance, helping them toward the victory of the highly regarded and prestigious Longines Global Champions League Super Cup.
“What an amazing day!”, says Nicola . “Winning this competition means that you truly succeeded in something big. We were a little less lucky the past two years during the finals, but this year we really performed as a strong team. Olivier and Emily jumped brilliantly. Katanga did amazing and jumped spotless today. She obviously becomes that horse with whom I’ll achieve some beautiful things in the future.”
“I’m a little speechless”, says Olivier . “We were there from the very first moment, even on Friday when we took bronze in the semifinal. Our team spirit was good, and the horses were in form. If you can perform this strong during the ultimate final, you deserve the victory. All three riders jumped two rounds today. If you finish with only one jumping faults and a few time penalties, that’s very strong. We gathered 7 penalty points today, the runner-up 18. That says enough.”
