2001 World Cup Finals
Aarhus, Denmark
5th - 8th April 2001

Rudolf Zeilinger Completes German Strangehold at Finals

While at last year's Final in Holland, the podium was completely orange coloured with Anky van Grunsven (1), Coby van Baalen (2) and Arjen Teeuwissen (3) as winners, it were the Germans that wielded the axe power on stage in Denmark. Rudolf Zeilinger completed the podium with a final third place. His Grand Prix test was flawless (72.54%), clearly showing his master's, Willi Schultheis, professional techniques in which weight determines the fluency of the movements. Livinjo's half passes were melted into the whole and the Hanoverian kept a steady forward rhythm throughout the test.

Rudolf Zeilinger, who is the official trainer of the Danish Dressage team, rode to heavy rock music and his test showed technical complexity as well. Nevertheless, the 12-year-old Livinjo is not as flashy as Anthony or Rusty and both rider and horse had to be pleased with the third position. "I think that Livinjo ran an exceptional test but it wasn't enough to take the lead. Nevertheless, I'm very pleased with his performance," Zeilinger commented afterwards.

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Images copryighted by Dirk Caremans
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