CLARE rider Coen Williams has won European gold as a member of the Irish Pony Showjumping U16 team at the FEI European Championships in Poland this weekend.
Coen, of PARC Stables outside Ennis, added an individual bronze medal to his haul on Sunday, with his compatriots James Derwin and James Brennan taking gold and silver.
The Irish team finished on a zero score to take the gold medal ahead of France who took the silver on four faults while Netherlands collected the bronze on 12 faults.
The team consisting of Kilkenny’s Eoin Brennan with Glor Tire Cruise (ISH), Kilkenny’s James Brennan with MHS Glow (ISH), Sligo’s Paddy Reape with Valma De Fougnard, Clare’s Coen Williams with Saxton Freedam (ISH) and Westmeath’s James Derwin with Rincoola Babog (ISH) is managed by Gary Marshall.
Marshal told Horse Sport Ireland’s website, “We are over the moon. We worked hard, had a plan and the team all executed it brilliantly. They are a great bunch of kids and were well prepared.
We didn’t have the best preparation last year with Covid but this year we were prepared.
“I want to thank all the support staff at Horse Sport Ireland, all the people on our committee that helped me with everything I needed, our fantastic sponsors and of course the riders and their families.”
Horse Sport Ireland CEO Denis Duggan added, “This was an absolutely fantastic performance from our Irish pony team to win the European Championship gold medal against the very best riders around Europe.
“Huge congratulations to Eoin, James, Paddy, Coen and James and to all their parents and families and to team manager Gary Marshall.
“Today’s gold medal win adds to the silver and bronze medal wins for our Junior and Young Rider Eventing teams last weekend in Britain, and a bronze medal win for our Junior Show Jumping team last month.
“It is a really positive refection on our High Performance Programmes which continue to deliver European medal success.”
Regarding the further individual performances on Sunday, Mr Duggan added, “This has been a truly remarkable and historic week for Irish equestrian sport.
“To come away from the European Championships winning six of the eight medals on offer in the Eventing and Show Jumping competitions really is an amazing achievement.
“This shows that the future is extremely bright for Irish equestrian sport and I want to offer my congratulations to all the athletes, coaches and families involved and of course thank all of our excellent sponsors.”