Britain claims a podium place

Olympic gold medallists and a rising star combine to help Britain to third in the Nations Cup, while Martin Fuchs follows in his uncle's footsteps with a big grand prix win

- ELEANOR JONES

BRITAIN’S comeback in the Mercedes-Benz Nations Cup resulted in an Aachen podium finish for a third year running.

Ben Maher (Dallas Vegas Batilly), Robert Whitaker (Vermento), Georgia Tame (Be Golden Lynx) and Scott Brash (Hello Jefferson) were fifth with nine faults after the first round but added just one time-fault in round two to finish third, behind Belgium on eight and the victorious US on four.

Germany and France went into round two ahead of Britain, on four and eight respectively. But when Olympic champion Christian Kukuk (Cepano Baloubet) stopped at a combination that had caused trouble in the previous round, they picked up time-faults.

This meant the home side had to count Sophie Hinners' (Iron Dames Combella) 11 faults, taking them to a total of 15 and fourth place.

Only Kevin Staut (New Libero One D'Asschaut) jumped clear for France in round two, so Olivier Robert's (Iglesias DV) and Nina Mallevaey’s (Dynastie De Beaufour) four faults apiece meant a score of 16 and fifth.

But the US riders were the stars; Lillie Keenan and Argan De Beliard jumped one of only five double clears, and Laura Kraut (Bisquetta), McClain Ward (Imperial HBF) and Kent Farrington (Toulayna) jumped a clear and a four-fault round each.

"For us, Aachen is the Mecca of showjumping," said US chef d'equipe Robert Ridland. “This was an easy team to select; I went down our national ranking list, one to five, simple as that. They were amazing; I don’t have to say anything more. This is what we came for, and it doesn’t get any better than here at Aachen.”