Thursday was the opening day of this Barcelona week, with the objective to finish in the top 8 in order to participate to the big final on Saturday evening. The day started with a 1m45 speed class where Gregory and Eldorado jumped a very fast clear round. They finished in the 3rd place. At the end of the day was the qualification class where 18 nations competed and only 8 places for the final where all meters will be put back to 0. Belgium qualified for this final with a perfect score with Jérôme, Niels and Gregory realising clear rounds. This allowed them to take the first place, along with Germany and the USA. Even if this ranking is not significant because they are restarting from 0 on Saturday, is underlines that the Belgians are ready and fit for the week-end.
“Corée was perfect this Thursday. Even if I had a little bit of apprehension because it was her first big event, and moreover her first time on such a big and complex class. Given her lack of experience, I didn’t have much clues on how she was going to behave. But from the beginning of the round, she reassured me and put me at ease, because she directly showed a lot of ease and availability. This allowed me to ride a very serene and beautiful clear round. I am of course very satisfied of her, but also of my team because everybody has been good. In our position, it is clear that we would have preferred to keep the scores, but we know the rules and it is the same for everybody. Saturday will be another class and everything is possible, one way or the other. We will do all we can to try and repeat our great result of last year.
