Flying start for Swail at FEI World Cup Finals

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Ireland’s Conor Swail and the 15-year-old gelding ‘Count Me In’ made a superb start last Thursday at the 2022 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Finals in Leipzig, Germany.

A super clear in 67.06 seconds left them in third place of 35 competitors heading into Friday’s second competition. Tipperary’s Denis Lynch and the 15-year-old stallion ‘Cristello’ finished with one fence down in a time of 71.43. With three seconds added for each fence down, Lynch finished on 74.43 putting him into 21st place. Switzerland’s Martin Fuchs and ‘Chaplin’ held the lead after jumping clear in 65.11.

Conor Swail and Denis Lynch were bidding to make history at the weekend in Leipzig. Eddie Macken, Trevor Coyle, Jessica Kurten and Bertram Allen have all finished on the World Cup Final podium in the past, but, as yet, no Irish rider has taken the coveted top prize in the 42-year history of the competition.

Scores from Thursday’s opening competition were carried forward to Friday’s second round of the FEI World Cup Finals.

SECOND ROUND

Friday’s second competition at the 2022 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Finals in Leipzig, saw plenty of changes at the top of the leaderboard, with Co. Down’s Conor Swail sitting in equal sixth place overall and Tipperary’s Denis Lynch in equal 14th heading into Sunday’s final round.

Denis Lynch and the 15-year-old stallion ‘Cristello’ started the day in 21st place. They looked to be heading for a perfect clear in Friday’s class, however the planks at the very last fence fell to the floor to leave them with four faults. Lynch, however, did have one of the fastest four-fault scores, meaning he took ninth place on the day and he now lies in equal 14th place on 12 penalties heading into Sunday’s Grand Final.

Conor Swail and the 15-year-old gelding ‘Count Me In’ were in third place after the opening round. They also had a fence down in Friday’s competition and, combined with their score from Thursday, they were in sixth place on seven penalties – less than a fence off the podium places.

2017 World Cup Champion McLain Ward took victory on Friday with ‘Contagious’ and that moved them to the top of the standings on zero penalties. Harrie Smolders (NED) was in second on four penalties with ‘Monaco’, while Britain’s Harry Charles and Switzerland’s Martin Fuchs shared third place on five penalties.

With two more rounds of jumping to come on Sunday, it was still all to play for at that stage.

All of the remaining 30 competitors jumped in the first round of Sunday’s final and then the top 20 jump in a second round before the 2022 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final champion was crowned.