On Molly Malone V and with 77.01 at the D'Ornano Stadium, he finished ahead of home athlete Patrice Delaveau on Orient Express HDC with 77.18 and Belgium's Gregory Wathelet on Conrad de Hus with 77.33.

"The mare jumped out of her skin," Allen said.

"The plan was a good solid round, but she took everything in her stride and we were able to get a great round in, so I'm over the moon.

"She has quite a bit of experience of going fast against the clock and we know each other well, so we know what we can and can't do, and we got the measure right today."

France lead the team rankings going into tomorrow's second test, with Sweden and the United States in second and third place respectively.

Germany are fourth, The Netherlands fifth and Canada sixth.

Delaveau warned that his nation must not take the first place for granted at this stage of the competition, particularly as only a single fence separates the top six nations.

"I think we have the lead for the team ranking, but nothing is done, we must stay focused," he said.

"However this result is good for us psychologically as we move forward into the week."
A total of 150 horse-and-rider combinations will go through to tomorrow's first round of the team final competition, which is also the second individual qualifier, and although all teams go into the competition, only the top 10 will qualify for Thursday's (September 4) second round of the team final.


Team Austria won the vaulting squad compulsory round at the World Equestrian Games ©FEI




Meanwhile, Austria's vaulters topped the round one compulsory competition at the Zenith Arena in the Parc des Expositions in Caen.

The nation collected a score of 7.872 to finish ahead of Germany in second place with 7.852, while Switzerland came third on 7.757.

Denmark's Rikke Laumann finished at the top of the female individual compulsory class on 8.435, with Great Britain's Joanne Eccles in second on a mark of 8.350 and Simone Jaiser of Switzerland in third on a score of 8.300.

In the male individual compulsory it was home athlete Jacques Ferrari that lead the standings on 8.410.

His compatriot Nicolas Andreani was second on 8.300 and German Viktor Brusewitz finished in third place with 8.216.

"I've never competed in such a beautiful arena before," said a positive Andreani.

"We really are in the limelight here, and the spectators are very close which just adds to the experience.

"My friends and my whole family are here, including my grandmother Noelle who has travelled 900 kilometres to support me.

"As defending world champion, I would of course love to win gold at the first WEG in France - seeing a tricolore on the podium would be even better."

Vaulting continues tomorrow, with the finals scheduled for Friday (September 5).

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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