March 5, 2016 — Cassidy and Kimberly Palmer put together a skillful and expressive performance to earn the pas-de-deux Bronze medal at the FEI World Cup™ Vaulting Final today. They finished with an overall score of 7.812 behind Gold medalists Pia Engelberty and Torben Jacobs of Germany, with an overall score of 8.989, and Silver medalists Erika Di Forti and Lorenzo Lupacchini of Italy, with an overall score of 8.146.
“I am happy to win Bronze. Of course, we wished for the Gold, but the competition was very tough. I am satisfied with the freestyle so that’s what is the most important,” said Cassidy.
Kimberly added, “Making it on the podium is always a good thing, so of course I am happy. I always expect more of myself and the pas-de-deux; however, I am very happy we completed a clean freestyle for the audience.”
Cassidy and Kimberly (Half Moon Bay, Calif.) mimicked yesterday’s routine to the theme of the movie “Frozen,” for a chance to improve upon their first day’s score. After struggling with the dismount during their first freestyle, they settled for a score of 7.916. They cleaned up simple mistakes from yesterday’s routine. Unfortunately, their mount Leon, Wolfgang Renz’s Württemberger gelding, lost points during today’s routine. Despite this, the sisters performed smoothly on Leon. They assembled a strong, rhythmic routine with the assistance of lunger Renz for a second freestyle score of 7.708.
“Today’s freestyle felt a lot better than yesterday. It was much smoother, and everything went the way it should have. Altogether, it was definitely a better round,” said Cassidy.
Kimberly added, “I feel today’s routine was much better than yesterday. We cleaned up the little mistakes we made in the first round. I was very happy with how we preformed.”
Filled with lots of emotion, Engelberty and Torben performed a dynamic, expressive routine to earn a second freestyle score of 9.217, sealing the Gold medal. This was Engelberty’s final competition before retiring from the sport. Di Forti and Lupacchini were unable to improve upon their first freestyle score but managed to keep their second place position on a second freestyle score of 8.111.
