Kazakhstan claimed the top two spots. Raisa Sokolenko, riding Chevalier, won the Big Tour in Poland, while Oleg Sokolenko and Shenanigan finished second. The winner beat her closest rival by an impressive 5.59 seconds, DKNews.kz reports.
The Kazakh national team achieved the double podium on August 29 at the international Wierzbna Biały Las tournament in Poland. According to the official calendar of the International Equestrian Federation, the event runs from August 27 to 30 and includes CSI1* and CSI3* international competitions.
Raisa Sokolenko won by 5.59 seconds
The Big Tour was held as a one-round speed competition under International Equestrian Federation (FEI) rules.
Raisa Sokolenko and Chevalier completed the course with zero penalties and posted the fastest time. Her advantage over the runner-up was 5.59 seconds.
That is a substantial margin in a speed class. When several combinations complete the course without faults, the final standings come down to the clock.
Following Sokolenko’s victory, the national anthem of the Republic of Kazakhstan was played during the official awards ceremony in Poland.
Oleg Sokolenko also finished with zero penalties
Second place also went to Kazakhstan.
Oleg Sokolenko competed aboard Shenanigan and, like the winner, completed the course with no penalty points.
Kazakhstan therefore secured both first and second place in the Big Tour standings.
This was not Shenanigan’s first notable result of the season. In late July, Oleg Sokolenko finished fourth on the same horse in the Medium Tour at the CSI2 Biskupiec international event in Poland, again completing the course without penalties. The result was previously published by the Kazakhstan Equestrian Federation.
Just 0.02 seconds separated third and fourth place
Behind the Kazakh pair, the contest was much tighter.
Poland’s Malgorzata Koszucka, riding V-Querida of Vigo Z, completed the course without penalties in 65.57 seconds to take third place.
Austria’s Christian Rhomberg followed with a time of 65.59 seconds.
Only 0.02 seconds separated third and fourth place.
Against that backdrop, Raisa Sokolenko’s 5.59-second advantage over second place stands out even more.
Only seven of 15 combinations went clear
Speed was only part of the challenge.
A total of 15 horse-and-rider combinations competed in the class, and only seven completed the course without penalty points.
The remaining competitors received between 4 and 16 penalties.
With both Kazakh combinations going clear and also posting the two fastest times, the one-two finish was not simply the result of mistakes by rivals. Kazakhstan’s riders delivered two clean performances of their own.
Raisa Sokolenko had taken silver a day earlier
The August 29 victory continued a strong run at the same tournament.
One day earlier, Raisa Sokolenko and Chevalier finished second in an international CSI1* class over 120-centimetre obstacles.
The Kazakhstan Equestrian Federation listed the August 28 result as a silver medal for Sokolenko at Wierzbna Biały Las.
The Kazakh combination completed both phases without penalties and recorded 27.78 seconds in the second phase, missing first place by just 0.09 seconds.
That means Sokolenko and Chevalier went from falling nine hundredths of a second short of gold one day to winning another class by several seconds the next.
European competitions are part of Kazakhstan’s Asian Games preparation
The result in Poland also matters beyond a single podium.
Kazakhstan’s national show jumping team is preparing for the 20th Asian Games in Japan in 2026. The federation previously said Kazakhstan would return to Asian Games equestrian competition after a 12-year absence.
The team includes Oleg and Raisa Sokolenko, Nurila Turisbekova and Ksenia Batalova. The Kazakhstan Equestrian Federation has described international competitions in Europe as an important stage of preparation ahead of the season’s main Asian event.
The Polish result therefore shows more than two medals: two Kazakh combinations completed the same international speed class without faults and occupied the top two positions in the final standings.
We previously reported on the major international sporting events awaiting Kazakhstan in 2026 and the schedule for the Asian Games in Japan. Kazakhstan’s show jumping team has now added another result to its European campaign: first and second place in the same international class in Poland.
