Team Gold Germany: Jrme Robin on Black Ice; Michael Jung on Kilcandra Ocean Power; Libussa Lbbeke on Caramia 34; Calvin Bckmann on The Phantom Of The Opera at the FEI Eventing Nations Cup 2023 Arville (BEL) / FEI Libby LawAfter a disappointing Olympic experience in Paris, Team Germany proved that they are still one of the best in the world, with a decisive win at the sixth leg of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup held at Arville, Belgium this week.A number of Olympic medallists and athletes came to compete at the beautiful venue including Olympic champions Michael Jung (GER) which added to the excitement for riders and spectators. Despite Jung retiring on the cross country, the German teams finishing score of 109.2 was good enough for first. France finished in second place on 119.2 whilst Great Britain finished third on 121.0, with the home nation Belgium in fourth on 143.0. The German team might have been spearheaded by three-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Jung and the experienced four-star horse Kilandra Ocean Power, but German Chef dEquipe, Rodolphe Scherer chose to select three younger riders to make up the team. It proved to be the right decision to take since the three younger riders scores were the ones to count, after Michael Jungs cross country retirement. 23-year-old Calvin Bckmann and The Phantom of the Opera finished second overall. 26-year-old Jrme Robin and Black Ice finished 11th individually, whilst 23-year-old Libussa Lbbeke and Caramia 34 picked up a few time penalties on the cross country to finish in 22nd. View this post on InstagramA post shared by Calvin Bockmann (@calvin_boeckmann)Speaking after their win, Scherer spoke on behalf of the German team about their performance in Arville. I am happy for the result because of the result but also because three of our riders were our younger riders. I came here with a lot of ambition because Calvin and Jrme were reserved for the Olympics so it was a good team to come here.The cross country course caused its fair share of drama with very few jumping clear rounds inside the time. There were a number of athletes picking up jumping penalties as well as retirements and eliminations at some of the combinations.It was a nice course, but it was a tough course with lots in it summed up Scherer who himself competed at two Olympics for Team France. You need to ride and be clever. It was more difficult if you look at the time. If you compete quiet its ok but if you ride for the time, of course its a little bit more difficult. But it was really encouraging for horses and very fair. Arville is a nice competition.He also explained what happened to the teams most experienced rider on course, Michael Jung. Micky had one run out at the water. He jumped good into the eater then turned and you have a skinny on the way out and the horse was a little bit behind the leg on the turn and he had a little run out. After that, he jumped up to the coffin which he jumped well then stopped because he knew that he could relax for the team and that the team could win without him. Little mistakes happen, one minute you win a gold medal and the next you have a run out. View this post on InstagramA post shared by Eventing Arville (@eventingarville)Ten teams came forward for this leg of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup, many of them fielding athletes who had competed in Paris. Second placed France fielded a strong team, including two riders who helped team France to team silver, Nicolas Touzaint and Gireg Le Coz (reserve athlete). Team USA was represented by Tiana Coudray (Cancaras Girl), Sydney Elliott (QC Diamantaire), Hallie Coon (Cute Girl), and Katheine Coleman (Sirius SB), starting the weekend strong in third position as a team but later falling to finish 10th in the Nations Cup standings. Hallie continued her stellar season with the 10-year-old Cute Girl, finishing as the top-placed U.S. rider in seventh of 88 finishers. The Series now moves to Lignires (FRA) from September 26-29, the penultimate leg before the final, which takes place in Boekelo (NED) in October. This result put France out in front of the team standings on a score of 290 points, with Germany in second place on 240 points. FEI Nations Cup (Arville, Belgium):[Website] [Results] [Live Stream Replays]