Gregory  Wathelet (BEL) won the eighth leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping in Mechelen, Belgium.

In front of his home crowd riding Copin van de Broy, Gregory Wathelet won the eight horse jump-off by 0.11 seconds ahead of Kevin Staut (FRA) riding Silvana * HDC and Rik Hemeryck (BEL) riding Quarco de Kerambars who finished in third place.

“I knew I was fast” said the winner, Wathelet, afterwards, “but I also knew that I had some very fast ones behind me.  I went as quickly as I could and just had to hope the rest wouldn’t catch me!” he added.  The Belgian rider spent some years competing for The Ukraine, but in 2008 renewed Belgian citizenship and had to wait two years to get back in his national team.  “I jumped my first Nations Cup for Belgium again in 2010 and I’m very happy to win here today in front of my home crowd - that’s always very special”

Photo: FEI