Crufts 2019: Sérgio de Sousa wins on the Holy Turf in Birmingham

The 2019 Agility International Invitation tournament at the Crufts has a new winner. Sérgio de Sousa and Border Collie Cat, from Portugal, take over the title of last year’s winner Jenny Damm. The Swede also remained without a mistake in the final, but missed at the end surprising 2.5 seconds on the best time of de Sousa. Third is the Japanese Naomi Kameda with Swany Diesel. Simon Brenca, the representative of Switzerland and winner of the year 2017 also did not stay clean. Like local hero Natasha Wise and Pebble. Although they still dominated the heats in the NEC arena in Birmingham, but in the final in the sold-out arena was not much to see from that. The two looked visibly nervous. Maybe one of the reasons for the slalom refusal and the five penalty points they got.

It was the next great success for the Portuguese, after the strong fourth place in the agility team run at the World Championships in Sweden. Even he hadn’t really realized the victory during the award ceremony. The ceremony was accompanied by a disbelieving shake of the head. The Crufts Invitation Tournament is considered as a small approach by the British Kennel Club to the FCI. At the same time, the tournament also reveals the big gap between the birthplace of agility and the international dog sport.

Crufts 2019 International Invitation
  Sérgio de Sousa with Cat
 Jenny Damm with Lilli
  Naomi Kameda with Swany

Rewatch the full tournament in the videos below: