Current European Champion Ferrari gave a masterclass in vaulting to claim his place as the new World Champion.

His performance left the crowds thrilled and on their feet for a standing ovation as he was awarded the highest score of the competition so far, 9.166, giving him a final championship total of 8.629.

"This is the crowning of a long process of many years, not just for myself but my family, friends and my team mates, and the culmination of the development of a style I have tried to design," said Ferrari.

"This is a sign that I have reached the limit and the pinnacle of my career so I don't know what will follow after this."

The performance was enough to claim the title ahead of defending world champion and team mate Nicolas Andreani who was left to settle for silver after his ingenious Einstein-themed freestyle was rewarded with a score of 8.723 for a final score of 8.498.

Germany's Erik Oese held onto his overnight third place to clinch his bronze medal with a score of 8.835.

This score was higher than Nicolas' freestyle score but not quite enough to give him the overall championship total he needed for silver, he lay just a fraction of a penalty behind Nicolas with a total of 8.483.

The female equivalent saw victory for Great Britain's Joanne Eccles as the defending world champion stole the show with a faultless final freestyle with a monumental score of 9.119, which gave her an unbeatable overall championship mark of 8.718.

"It's been an incredible week," said Eccles.

"To come back here after the last World Equestrian Games with the same team and horse is amazing and to win another gold makes it even more special."

Joanne Eccles defended her women's individual vaulting title with a spectacular performance in Normandy ©Getty Images



After a slow start to the competition on Tuesday (September 2), Italy's Anna Cavallaro has done well to climb back up the ranks before securing the silver medal this evening.

She performed a beautiful final freestyle to Andreas Bocelli's Sogno to gain a mark of 8.697, giving her a final total of 8.452.

The bronze medal went to Switzerland's Simone Jäiser who has performed consistently all week and was awarded a score of 8.863 in her final freestyle, meaning her final four-day mark was just a fraction behind Cavallaro's, at 8.433.

Eccles' gold was a second medal of the day for the Briton after she claimed bronze with sister Hannah in the earlier Pas de Deux competition.

Austria's European champions Jasmin Lindner and Lukas Wacha took the top prize in this contest after the overnight leaders stole the show with an utterly flawless performance to record yet another score of over nine points with a mark of 9.035, which gave them a total two-day score of 9.059.

"It was a great feeling to be in that arena and is amazing for us to be here in Normandy," said Linder.

"We are really happy with our performance and our medal but we are also very proud of our horse and our lunger Klaus [Haidacher] as they were both nervous today."

German pair Pia Engelberty and Torben Jacobs clawed their way up to silver medal position with a brilliant freestyle display, after their performance yesterday left them in fifth place overnight.

Their final day score of 8,694 saw them leapfrog the British pairing, as well as fellow Germans Gera Marie Grün and Justin Van Gerven.

The French supporters had plenty more to cheer about when the host nation also took the bronze in the squad final in which Germany claimed the gold and Switzerland took silver.

This was a thriller from start to finish, but Paulina Riedel, Mona Pavetic, Janika Derks, Milena Hieman, Julia Dammer and Johannes Kay, along with their lunger Jessica Schmitz and horse, Delia, were undisputed champions.

Scoring a massive 9.058 tonight they completed on a final total of 8.724 when third-last to go.

Chester Weber has taken the lead in the driving competition after recording a score of 32.21 ©Marie de Ronde-Oudemans/FEI



American favourite Chester Weber has taken the lead in the driving competition as he recorded a score of 32.21 to lead Australia's Boyd Exell and the Dutch trio of Theo Timmerman, Ijsbrand Chardon and Koos de Ronde.

The results leaves The Netherlands on course for their fourth gold team medal, with the nation never having left a World Equestrian Game without a team medal.

The US team is ranked second ahead of the marathon at La Prairie Racecourse tomorrow, while Hungary lie in third.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
September 2014: Netherlands claim second jumping title at World Equestrian Games as places for Rio 2016 decided
September 2014: Frenchman Delaveau moves clear in jumping as Irishman Allen loses lead at World Equestrian Games
September 2014: Irish teenager Allen opens World Equestrian Games jumping competition with win
August 2014: Germany claim double eventing gold at World Equestrian Games
August 2014: All American podium for individual reining at World Equestrian Games