January 17, 2024 
Germany was the nation to beat at the 12th Annual FEI Vaulting World Cup Final at Longines CHI Classics Basel on Sunday.
On the final event of the two-day competition at the World Cup Final in Basel, Switzerland, two defending German champions were able to retain their titles, while a new pair to the vaulting scene wowed the judges in the Pas de Deux.
Men’s Individual Final
Leading from Day 1, Germany’s returning champion Jannik Heiland & Dark Beluga FRH (lunged by Barbara Rosiny) of Germany ultimately took home gold after the men’s freestyle competition. A difficult outside mount, combined with technical precision and artistry, was enough to give Heiland the edge during Friday’s Individual Tech Test on a score of 8.549 points.
Day 1 scores only make up 40 percent of the total points, however, with Sunday’s final free test contributing the majority 60 percent. Once again, Heiland rose to the challenge, employing seamless transitions and an impressive finish that earned him 9.162 points and a 8.917 overall, enough to hold on to his World Cup Champion title for another year. “Dark Beluga did a fantastic job; he got the best horse score, and for me, he was my champion,” Heiland said.
Another solid Day 2 test left the door open for a silver-medal finish for France’s Theo Gardies & Sir Sensation (lunged by Sebastien Langlois), who’s overall score of 8.808 just edged-past Day 1 leader Victor Brüsewitz on Goldjunge of Germany (lunged by Jaqueline Schönteich) on 8.463 points.
Also of note was Juan Martin Clavijo Vega, from Columbia, who took fourth; Thomas Brüsewitz of Germany, Andrin Müller of Switzerland, Lukas Heppler of Switzerland, and Daniel Klotz-Dedora of Canada, rounded out the final results in that order.
Women’s Individual Final
A Day 2 change-up also proved critical for defending champion Kathrin Meyer & San Classico S OLD (lunged by her mother, Sonja Meyer), also from Germany, who sat in second to her countrywoman, first-time World Cup Finals competitor Alina Ross, who topped the leaderboard on Day 1 with Goldjunge (lunged by Jaqueline Schönteich). Yet a few technical errors and disharmony with her horse saw Ross’s overall score drop to 8.311 on Day 2.
That was good enough for silver, but not good enough to best Meyer’s overall clean program and final combined score of 8.503 points. “It’s not always possible to do what you practice in the training,” Meyer has said of her sport, though Sunday’s performance certainly went according to plan, providing yet another incumbent World Cup Finals victory for Germany.
Hometown vaulter Ilona Hannich & Rayo de la Luz (lunged by Monika Winkler-Bischofberger) of Switzerland took bronze. Nadja Büttiker, also from Switzerland, took fourth place, followed by Eva Nagiller of Austria, Kimberly Palmer of the USA, Sema Hornberg of Germany, and Averill Saunders of Canada.
Pas de Deux
In the fan-favorite Pas de Deux category, however, Day 2 brought fewer changes. Day 1 leaders Rebecca Greggio, Davide Zanella, & Orlando Tancredi (lunged by Claudia Petersohn) of Italy rode away with the championship—the first win for Italy in this category in seven years. The pair’s “House of Gucci”-inspired program featuring interesting moves, beautiful transitions, and the requisite changes in supporting roles for lifts that earned them 8.596 points—good enough for gold.
“We really wanted to deliver the best Gucci version of all time, and maybe we did it,” said Greggio and Zanella after their performance.
The current world #1-ranked Diana Harwardt and Peter Künne of Germany were awarded the silver medal with DSP Sir Laulau (lunged by Andrea Harwardt) on a score of 8.549 points. Switzerland’s Zoe Maruccio and Syra Schmid aboard Latino V. Forst CH (lunged by Michael Heuer) earned a combined score of 8.168 points to take bronze.
Romana Hintner and Eva Nagiller of Austria finished fourth, while Swiss vaulters Li Laffer and Ilona Hannich (bronze medalist in the Individual Female category) took fifth place.
