Sunday, 24 June 2012 Day’s summary from SundayA dream come true: Alice Janout of Lower Austria is the 2012 Austrian national champion!
Alice Janout was just a split second away from winning the national championship, and that same split second separated Carinthian local hero Dieter Köfler from the title. A lot had happened since the first round in the second category. Lower Austria‘s Georg Hladik, riding Oboras Partano, was unable to defend his temporary lead; he, like so many others, fell victim to the tricky course designed by Adi Appe. Upper Austria’s Astrid Kneifl, however, dealt with the course magnificently – she and her horse Duc De Revel led in the interim scoring, ahead of Alice Janout, who finished the round with only 1.25 time faults with her grey gelding Wodka Lime and was able to move further to the front.
The two Styrians Simon Johann Zuchi and Markus Saurugg also had a great starting position, as did the aforementioned Köfler, who entered the second round at the fore after just one knockdown. The chance to become national champion seemed gone for Alice Janout of Lower Austria, who was the penultimate starter. With a little too much pressure on the vertical halfway into the course, Wodka Lime stopped, but at the second approach the horse took the obstacle just as easily as the remaining course (6.25). All seemed lost. Now Dieter Köfler, as the last starter, could have had one knockdown and still easily emerged as the national champion.
The rail fell at Köfler’s first obstacle. The crowd sat so silently that you could have heard a pin drop as he continued riding his course masterfully; with the title in his grasp, he entered the finishing line with the final two oxers. But there the next rail dropped: the national title was lost for the Carinthian and won for Alice Janout.
Three pairs were now tied with 16 total faults; because the fastest time is what counts in such a situation, Simon Johann Zuchi was ultimately the one to celebrate a second-place finish, while fellow Styrian Markus Saurugg won third place and Dieter Köfler, who had approached his round without urgency, had to accept the thankless fourth place.
“It’s hard to describe, I almost can’t believe it yet,” the beaming new national champion, a lifelong Carinthian, said in her interview with Dorian Steidl on her triumph. “I’ve come in third twice before, and now the title! I’m enjoying this very much right now.” The connection to Carinthia incidentally extends to her sensational Wodka Lime: local hero Gerfried Puck used to ride the horse, so he may also feel a little like a national champion now.