SUNDRE — Despite a disappointing finish following otherwise promising performances, a Sundre-area vaulter remains undaunted and perhaps even more committed to her discipline than ever before.
Averill Saunders, who lives north of Sundre, recently wrapped up a three-day competition overseas. Saunders was one of three Canadian vaulters competing in the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) World Championships at the Jyske Bank Boxen arena in Herning, Denmark.
Also competing under the Canadian banner were Shaina Hammond, a dual Canadian and U.S. citizen who is originally from Delta, B.C., as well as Talmage Conrad, of Lethbridge.
The championships, which ran Aug. 6-14, included competitive events in jumping, dressage, para dressage as well as vaulting.
In a press release, Equestrian Canada reported that the third and final day of individual competition brought to an end the three Canadian athletes’ vaulting competitions at the FEI with some triumphs as well as disappointments.
The final performances offered the athletes an opportunity to demonstrate their favourite moves in a freestyle test that accounted for half of their overall championship score.
“The freestyle test is a free program, designed by the vaulters where they can be creative and do exercises that are not part of the compulsory program or technical exercises,” reads a portion of the statement.
Saunders was the second to go in the ring following Hammond’s routine, and while her performance initially started out well, she part-way through encountered difficulties during one of her moves and made an unexpected dismount.
In the end, her scores unfortunately reflected the challenges she faced and the 18-year-old finished the round with a score of 7.806, placing her 25th out of 35 vaulters.
But when all of the calculations were done, and as a result of the weighting of the freestyle score, the final individual combined score throughout the three tests was 8.002, which placed her just shy of the top 10 in 11th.
“It’s part of the sport, it happens,” she was quoted as saying. “As a person, I am a perfectionist. So, I won’t necessarily have a sense of satisfaction from that performance, but (it’s) something that I can turn into momentum and a feeling to keep me going and do better next time.”
In the lead-up to the freestyle finals, Saunders and her Canadian cohort performed at the top of their game during the second day’s technical tests for vaulters and their lunging teams, even going onto post some personal bests, Equestrian Canada stated.
“Word was spreading throughout the day that the Canadian team had come to perform and make a statement,” Equestrian Canada said.
Saunders was reported to have exuded a maturity beyond her age on Westfalian gelding Rockemotion, owned by Hans-Peter and Marlies Krukenburg and Kai and Nina Vorberg and groomed and lunged by Nina Vorberg.
She presented an intriguing routine about the human body that she choreographed. That performance ended up landing her the second-best technical score of the day at 8.393, just behind the French athlete Manon Moutinho.
“It felt so good,” she said upon coming out of the ring. “To finally be able to show something that I’ve been working on all season, it was the best feeling. This horse is my heart horse, and with the lunger, my team, it’s the dream team.”
The routine had for many years been preoccupying her thoughts.
“To be able to bring it out this year and show it, is exciting,” she said. “I have wanted to be a surgeon since I was 12, so the nervous system and human anatomy has been something I find really interesting. And to be able to bring it into an art form is really cool.”
Daniel Janes, her coach who himself competes in vaulting for the U.S., thought Saunders was being a little too modest.
“Averill’s test was phenomenal,” said Janes. “She’s shown a lot of potential in practice, and today with the great relationship with her horse Rockemotion, she was able to perform her best and it was a world-class performance.”
The Canadians in Herning were said to have all felt an electric enthusiasm for the members of the team as well as the intriguing sport of “gymnastics on the back of moving horse.”
“And Saunders especially showed everyone in the vaulting world and equestrian community how committed and serious she is about making progress in the sport; not only for herself, her country, but for vaulting overall,” reported Equestrian Canada.
Sharing some parting thoughts for other Canadian vaulters back home, Saunders said, “Keep working and trying hard. We’re getting there and starting to make waves in the vaulting community!”
Taking the top-three spots on the podium were gold medal winner Manon Moutinho from France, Germany’s Julia Sophie Wagner with a silver finish, while Denmark’s Sheena Bendixen took home with her a bronze medal.
