Averill Saunders and Rockemotion (Photo: Kaiser-impressions)

By rdnewsNOW Staff

Averill Saunders

Central Alberta vaulter competing at FEI World Championships

Aug 9, 2022 | 2:35 PM

A young equestrian athlete from central Alberta is competing at the 2022 FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark.

Averill Saunders, 18, of Sundre, is the youngest Canadian vaulter at the competition.

The 2022 ECCO FEI World Championships are the ninth edition of the Games, which are held every four years and run by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports.

On day three of the Aug. 6-14 event, it was the end of the individual male and female vaulting competitions.

After a phenomenal showing during the technical round, expectations for Saunders were said to be high for the freestyle round where she went in holding fourth place. Saunders planned to share a routine about the labels that people place on others and sported a custom leotard with words and expressions that can be harmful, screened over the black and white fabric.

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The routine started out well, but partway through, officials with Equestrian Canada (EC) say she ran into difficulties with one of her moves and made an unexpected dismount. The scores unfortunately also reflected the challenges Saunders had in the ring and finished the round with a respectable 7.806 in 25th position out of 35 vaulters. When calculated, and due to the weighting of the freestyle score, the final individual combined score over the three tests was 8.002 placing her just shy of the top ten in 11th.

For the third day of individual competition in the Jyske Bank Boxen arena, Canada’s two female vaulters (Averill Saunders/Shaina Hammond, Delta, B.C.) and one male vaulter (Talmage Conrad, Lethbridge, AB) took to the ring in the freestyle test which accounts for 50 per cent of the athlete’s 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.

The podium, however, was shared by three countries familiar with vaulting success on the world stage. Frances’ Manon Moutinho with 15-year-old Oldenburg gelding Saitiri (Santorin II x Dark Dream) earned gold with a combined score of 8.963, Julia Sophie Wagner of Germany with 17-year-old German Sport Horse gelding Giovanni 185 (Moosbachhofs Goldwing x San Juan) took silver with 8.529 and host team, Denmark’s Sheena Bendixen with 18-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Klintholms Ramstein (Robin x Castor) took bronze with 8.511.

When asked about how she felt about her experience in the final ring, Saunders was able to stay somewhat positive. “It’s part of the sport, it happens,” she said. “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.”

Those in the venue and in the sport, however, congratulated Saunders on how well she had performed throughout the competition, say Equestrian Canada officials.

Equestrian Canada says Canadians in Herning all felt the swell of interest and excitement for the members of the vaulting team and the intriguing sport of ‘gymnastics on the back of moving horse’.

Saunders especially, says Equestrian Canada, 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 and her country, but for vaulting overall.