William Fox-Pitt wins bronze at European Championships

Britain's William Fox-Pitt took bronze behind Germany's Michael Jung at the European Eventing Championships.

Fox-Pitt, who won European silver in 1997 and 2007, had to settle for third in Malmo after knocking a fence down. Germany's Ingrid Klimke won silver.

"I came here with the expectation of winning an individual medal. If Chilli [Morning - his horse] was on good form, I knew he could," said the 44-year-old.

Germany retained the team title as Britain finished sixth.

Sweden were second with France taking bronze.

It was the first time in 20 years that London 2012 silver medallists Britain had not won a team medal at the European Eventing Championships.

Individually, Tina Cook finished in 13th place, Izzy Taylor was 35th and Pippa Funnell 40th.

Reigning Olympic, world and European champion Jung's victory means he becomes the first man to win four individual titles in a row.

For Fox-Pitt, it was a 17th major medal of his career.

He said: "We came here with hopes to win a team medal and naturally we are disappointed. We've been very fortunate to be part of strong teams for so long when things have gone right.

"When you have two out of the four horses in the team having hiccups on the cross-country, your luck is not in.

"If you look at four years ago, you had all the Germans on the floor in Fontainebleau and then in Kentucky [at the World Equestrian Games 2010], and who would have thought that?

"The sport is becoming more technical and everyone is getting better and better, but these things go in cycles.

"[Germany] will not be winning forever and we will go away and focus on what we need to work on."

Germany won the team competition by a wide margin of 17.8 penalties, finishing on 116.2 - 64.4 penalties clear of Britain - with Sweden posting 134, France 151.6, Italy 167 and Belgium 179.2.