Special podium at Young Riders, gold again for Jette de Jong

A very special championship in the Young Riders class. Jette de Jong just became Belgian Champion again with Heavenly Charming, the silver was for her other horse, Indigo. She faced the biggest competition from her own horse with her friend Britt van de Weyer. ‘This is very special, for sure. It’s really nice that it worked out with gold and silver,’ said brand-new champion Jette de Jong.

‘Indi and Britt have only just become a combination and Heaven and I have been for a long time. I always ride with the two horses, but so now against Britt and Indi. Yesterday was really incredibly exciting.’ Jette de Jong won the first part in the championship and had to settle for second place yesterday. Today in the freestyle she took revenge and managed to win the freestyle with a score of 75.310% and that got her the gold, just like last year.

‘I could never do it without Jette’
‘It’s very special, and the swap is to the advantage of both the horse and Britt. It’s a super good combination, I’m extremely happy with that,’ Jette de Jong explains. And Britt van de Weyer agrees. ‘This is really just fantastic, totally not expected. Four weeks back I wasn’t competing. And now suddenly the Belgian championship and then coming second is really great. It’s indescribable. I could never do it without Jette,’ Britt van de Weyer is grateful to her friend.

Competing together
‘My freestyle went really well, I maybe didn’t give the most because I mainly wanted it to go well, because I did have to come before Britt,’ laughs Jette de Jong. For Britt, it was her third time riding freestyle and first time competing. ‘I am very satisfied, had a small mistake in the series,’ she said. Britt van de Weyer and Indigo’s freestyle was rewarded with a score of 71.350%. Both ladies are hoping to compete at the European Championships this summer. ‘Nice to compete together,’ said Jette and Britt.

Bronze for Louise Brauwers
Third place in the Belgian Young Riders Championship went to Louise Brauwers. She sent her Jerveaux de Baian to bronze after scoring 70.485% in the freestyle.

Results

Photo: Digishots