European Open 2019: Tereza Kralova, Werner Goltz and Tobias Wüst play out their experience

What a finale! Tereza Kralova, Werner Goltz and Tobias Wüst kept their nerve during the final from the European Open 2019 and are the winners in the three size categories. All three are experienced handlers who were several times before in such or similar situations. Was this ultimately a factor for their success? What is certain is, that they have completed their runs without any mistakes and quickly. All three have a pretty big gap to the second place for such a world-class tournament.

As soon as the pressure rises, the shape curve of Tereza Kralova and Say increases noticeably. Whenever it gets serious, the two are ready to perform. Long forgotten is the World Cup in Italy 2016 where the young Czech failed at exactly this point on the last jump in the final. Today she was bursting with self-confidence and ran a sovereign run. A impressive 0.47 seconds gap to second-placed Svetlana Kreslina with Salsa is a considerable achievement at this level. For Svetlana Kreslina is it already the third medal today. After silver and bronze in the Medium and Small team runs, there is now also a silver single medal. At the beginning of the tournament, the team had some trouble with the sandy underground. Practically the whole weekend strong was Lisa Frick with Jack. With a pretty early start number, she quickly took the lead from Mona Grefenstein away. Since both belong to the narrow circle of favorites, one could say relatively early that the time of 36.00 was pretty good and the Austrian would hold the lead for a long time. In the end, she only had to give up the lead to the two aforementioned defeats. Max Sprinz as defending champion also kept the nerves and showed as the last runner a good run. But only good. Not fast enough to defend the title. He ends up in 6th place. Which, of course, as with Maruša Podjed, clearly shows that last year’s victory was not just a fluke. Mona Grefenstein narrowly missed the podium with the fourth place. But if you remember that she was not able to qualify for the European Open and could just participate at all due to a cancellation, is that remarkable. The Polish Aleksandra Klobukowska with Yuca and a time of 35.94 also came under the magical 36.00 mark. With this time and without the mistake she would have reached the third place.

Large (full results)
  Tereza Kralova with Say
  Svetlana Kreslina with Salsa
  Lisa Frick with Jack

Actually nobody really had Werner Goltz on the bill before the start. Although he was among the top ten runners in all previous races with at least one dog. Rather, it was the dominance of Daniel Schröder and Cashew, which were already almost set for the victory. Or if something should happen there were still big names like Ina Himle, Martin Eberle or compatriot Angelika Brandl. In addition, between Esmeralda and the eventual winner Ixi was just one runner in between. Not the best condition for a final on the already exhausting sandy ground anyway. Werner Goltz convince all doubters what he is capable of. And his run caught the audience. On the one hand, the perfectly constructed obstacles and lines and then in the same moment some rescue operations where others had almost long retired. But not Werner Goltz, who once again proves that age does not matter. His advantage over Mickael Renaud with Ta is then a very own number. 1.02 seconds is incredible for a final at a European Open. The Frenchman probably would not have expected second place either. He set his time from 36.99 very early, but remained unbeaten except until Werner Goltz and Ixi run. The run was marked by many disqualifications and faults, which most were probably due to the nerves. Marc Van Beeck with Peejah completes the medium podium. He brings back the only medal for Belgium. Daniel Schröder took one of the rare failures and misses the title defense. Ina Himle at least reached the finish, but collected on the way 2 mistakes. Although Martin Eberle and Sloane showed an impressive consistency over the entire European Open. But the last and most important run was not quite as fluid as he had imagined. Switzerland will once again be without a medal at a major tournament.

Medium (full results)
  Werner Goltz with Ixi
  Mickael Renaud with Ta
  Marc Van Beeck with Peejah

For a long time it looked like the winning time would be around 37, maybe 36 seconds. Markéta Zavadilová, Maelle Desmery, Pauline Mignot and Marta Miil, for example, ran a similar time in the middle 37.5 second range. Although an increase of this time with the last 10 starters was foreseeable, but that the time was pushed down to almost 35 seconds by Tobias Wüst and Dörte at the end was surprisingly. His run, which made him and Sheltie Dörte the winner of this year’s European Open lasted only 35.26 seconds. But the final was exciting until the end. Because as defending champion Maruša Podjed and Nai was the last team to start. The now seven-year-old Sheltie Nai proved in an impressive way that he is still in the best shape. With 35.73 seconds, the Slovenian duo remained almost half a second behind Tobias Wüst, however, Maruša Podjed proved impressively that the victory of the previous year was no fluke. Third is Eli Beate Sæther from Norway. In terms of time, today it was probably not possible anymore with the top two teams in front. The third place confirms the strong form of the Norwegian, after a mixed last year with ups and downs. Her third place was short endangered by Pavol Vakonic and Meryl. But they missed the medals in fourth place by 0.34 seconds. Adriano Pacifico, Claudia Schwab and Enya Habel each made one mistake and were thus out of reach of the top 10.

Small (full results)
  Tobias Wüst with Dörte
  Maruša Podjed with Nai
  Eli Beate Sæther with Zelda