Equestrianism: Britain trail after speed trial

Britain's chance of Olympic qualification took a severe knock here yesterday when the team were left trailing in 11th place after the opening speed contest of the European Show Jumping Championships.

Germany led, closely followed by Sweden, France and Switzerland, with Denmark in fifth thanks to a swift clear round from Thomas Velin, who headed the individual classification on Equest Carnute. Germany's Marcus Ehning, who was fastest on For Pleasure, is just 0.02sec behind the leader after incurring a four-second penalty for one fence down.

"This was my big goal for the year," Velin, 28, said. "I was jumping in Valkenswaard last week, trying to build my horse up for this show, and I think he's in good shape."

Richard Davenport, who was first to jump for Britain, had seemed to make a reasonable start with a clear round on Luc. But he had not been in any great hurry and, as times got progressively faster, he slipped inexorably down in the placings to finish the day as 46th of the 77 starters. Nick Skelton is one place below him after losing valuable time when Arko III stopped at the first part of fence seven, a double which was on a related distance from the water that preceded it.

Michael Whitaker then had four fences down on Fleur, who may have been feeling the effect of the heat, before Robert Smith clobbered two with Mr Springfield, whose fast time left him best of the British horses in 20th place.

The four Britons will be anxious to retrieve the situation in today's two-round contest, which decides the team placings and Olympic qualification. Six of the European nations who are also looking to secure one of the last three qualifying places are ahead of them, with Switzerland in the best position, followed by Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Austria and Bulgaria.