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Federation
Equestre Internationale News
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FEI
GANDINI WORLD JUMPING RIDERS RANKINGS
With
a total of 2425 points, Marcus Ehning (GER) leads the FEI Gandini
World Jumping Riders Rankings for the second consecutive month,
despite having scored no points in June. He was dropping 375 points
at the end of last month, and will loose another 90 at the end
of July. He has every chance of keeping his Number One position
before the Olympic Games start, as his runner-up Ludger Beerbaum
(2364 points) will drop 320 points.
Beerbaum, scored 75 points at CSIO Lucerne (SUI), part of the
Samsung Super League, and another 95 at CSI 3* Norten-Hardenberg,
where he finished in second position in the Grand Prix.
Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) went up two places and is now third of the
FEI Gandini World Rankings thanks to the 140 points he collected
at CSI 5* Spruce Meadows (CAN) where he finished second of the
Derby and the additional 40 points earned at the CSI 3* of the
well known equestrian fixture in Calgary.
The
Swiss rider Markus Fuchs, who was dropping a massive number of
points (574) at the end of last month, fell down from 4th to 7th
place, despite the 140 points he collected in Lucerne. He will
loose no less than 515 points at the end of the month, so might
well be pushed off the Top Ten unless he is really successful
during July.
Newcomer in the Top Ten, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum had a remarkable
progression from 21st to 10th place, thanks to her success in
the two June CSIO of the Samsung Super League's circuit. She scored
200 points in Lucerne, where she won the Grand Prix and performed
a double clear in the Samsung Super League, and 105 points at
CSIO Rotterdam. Her position might be further strengthened next
month, as she is the only rider of the Top Ten with Otto Becker
(GER) who will not loose points at the end of July.
FEI BCM WORLD DRESSAGE RIDERS RANKINGS
Due to late reception of results, the FEI BCM World Dressage Riders
Rankings will only be available later this afternoon on the FEI
website, section Consult / Results.
REINING
FEI CREATES NEW MILESTONE WITH US$ 100 000 WORLD REINING MASTERS
Countries send their best Reiners - Ranking Update
On 15 November, the reiners who will compete at the FEI World
Reining Masters in Oklahoma City, USA will be known. That day
is the nomination deadline for the first US$ 100'000.- Masters
in the history of Reining. For this mega show, riders must qualify
at CRIs (Concours Reining International) in their own countries.
The rider who earns the largest prize money will qualify for the
FEI World Reining Masters, which will take place on 2 December,
2004 in Oklahoma City, USA. Those countries which qualified for
the World Equestrian Games Final in 2002 (USA, Canada, Great Britain,
Germany and Italy) are entitled to send two riders to the Masters.
The presenting sponsor behind the project is NetJets, the world's
leading company in the sale and management of fractional aircraft
ownership. The company owns more than 500 aircrafts worldwide
with experienced service and crew, guaranteeing top availability
of latest-technique aircrafts. NetJets as now applied its motto
'Leave nothing to chance' to the reining industry. Along with
NetJets as the presenting sponsor, AQHA, NRHA and Classic S Ranch
have generously donated funds to make the World Reining Masters
a premier event in December.
So far, eleven nations organised one or more CRIs: USA, Dominican
Republic, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy,
Sweden, Germany, Israel and Great Britain.
There are ranking lists for Germany, Sweden, Italy and the USA
that can be found on the FEI website (section consult/results).
Volker Schmitt is leading the German rankings with EUR 1246 earned
at CRI Bremen last February and in Dortmund one month later. Volker
Schmitt was second best at the European Championship and the best
German rider at the World Equestrian Games 2002, and has been
riding very successfully in the USA for quite some time. He is
followed by Steffen Breug with EUR 580. Steffen Breug belongs
to the German National team. The next potential candidates are
Grischa Ludwig (2000 German Champion) with EUR 495 and Oliver
Stein (Team Gold Medal at the 2003European Championship) with
EUR 455. The next German CRI will take place during the Super
Slide at Kreuth (Oberpfalz) on 5 September.
In Italy, the leading riders are Marco Ricotta and Dario Carmignani.
The second Italian CRI will take place at Egna on 30 July.
The Swedish rankings are led by Rick Lemay at the moment with
another CRI right around the corner in Falsterbo on 11 July.
In the USA rankings, the first four riders are very close together:
Todd Sommers ( USD 22'328), Todd Crawford (USD 21324), Tom McCutcheon
(USD 21'223) and Craig Schmersal (USD 20'437). Two more CRIs will
take place in the coming months, so the fight is still very open.
Austria will select its competitor at Lermoos on 7 August, Switzerland
at Waengi on 28-29 August. There will be two CRIs in Great Britain
on 31 July / 1 August, during the Garden of England in East Sussex
and at Robertsbridge. One more CRI will be organised in Netherlands
at Deume on 9-10 July. Israel will host a CRI on 16-18 September.
With the World Reining Masters, the FEI in close cooperation with
the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) and the National
Reining Horse Association USA (NRHA) created a new milestone for
reining, a discipline which was officially recognised by the FEI
in 2000. "With the FEI World Reining Masters we want to further
promote and encourage the growth of Reining - hopefully to be
a part of the Olympic Games in the future," says FEI Reining
Committee Chairman Frank Costantini. The Masters will we organised
every year from now on. They are already looking for a venue in
Europe now for the FEI World Reining Masters 2005.
FEI EVENTING WORLD CUP UPDATE
The 2004 FEI Eventing World Cup season is at its height and three
very different yet equally exciting qualifiers took place over
the last fortnight in Moscow (RUS), Luhmühlen (GER) and Strzegom
(POL).
MOSCOW ESTABLISHES ITSELF ON THE INTERNATIONAL EVENTING CALENDAR
The Olympic training base Planernaya hosted the Moscow FEI Eventing
World Cup qualifier for the 2nd time from 17 to 20 June. Thirteen
riders representing Russia, Ukraine and Belarus began and nine
finished the event.
Pavel Sergeev of Russia and the 11-year old gelding Polus were
2nd after Dressage with 59.35 penalty points. Thanks to a bold
Cross Country which they literally flew over loudly cheered by
supporters and despite an average Jumping round where they collected
11 penalties (2 rails down and a 3 time penalties), the pair came
in first with a final result of 99.15 points. This result is a
progress for both horse and rider who were 4th in last year's
FEI Eventing World Cup leg in Moscow.
Runner up position was taken by fellow Russian Adrey Grishin on
the 10-year old gelding Skampolo with 118.50 points. Ukraine's
Vitaly Stytsko on Argument placed 3rd with 130.19 points.
Riders from that part of the world have been virtually absent
form international Eventing for the last decade, but thanks to
the unremitting efforts of the Russian equestrian community strongly
supported by the government of the city of Moscow, better days
lie ahead. In response to the country's commitment, the FEI has
included Russian Eventing in its development educational and training
programmes. As a result, the World Cup Cross Country track was
entirely rebuilt by Cross Designer Roland Alexander to match international
standards with the financial assistance of the FEI Development
Fund. A larger scope project including, apart from Russia,
Eastern European countries such as Ukraine, Belarus and Bulgaria,
coordinated by Andrew Griffiths, FEI development officer in Eastern
Europe, is currently being put into place. The goal is to technically
upgrade existing competitions and allow riders from these countries
to qualify at home for international events, such as European
Championships, avoiding costly travel abroad. New talents will
then be making their entry to the international Eventing scene.
NERVE-RACKING FIGHT IN LUHMÜHLEN
Australia's world class rider Andrew Hoy riding the 12-year old
gelding Mr Pracatan won the much disputed FEI Eventing World cup
qualifier held at Luhmühlen (GER) from 17 to 20 June. A 39,50-penalty
Dressage score placed the pair in 8th position, in a tie with
Great Britain's Zara Phillips on Springleaze Marcaroo and well
behind Linda Algotsson of Sweden, winner of the 2003 FEI Eventing
World Cup Final, on Stand by Me 4 (35.90). In front of some 12,000
enthusiastic fans, Linda took the lead after a faultless Cross
Country, followed by Zara Phillips and Hoy. The final result then
lay with the Jumping test. With a clear round, Hoy clearly became
the winner. Hoy's performance is all the more remarkable given
that he also placed 6th on Yeoman's Point with 48 points. With
120 points, he is now 2nd in the FEI Eventing World Cup standings
only 3 points behind the leader Darren Chiacchia (USA) with 123
points and 2 points ahead of Matthew Grayling (NZL) with 118 points.
With one rail down, Linda Algotsson took runner-up position finishing
with 39.90 points, only 0.40 points behind the winner. An incredibly
speedy Jumping round (70.87s. with time allowed of 88s.) cost
Zara Philips three fences finally putting her in 7th place (51.50
points).
Dirk Schrade, 26, of Germany, who performed the event's best Cross
Country finishing only 0:01 second before the optimum time of
7:54, placed 3rd on Sindy 43 with a final score of 41.70 penalties.
He is followed by Bettina Hoy on Ringwood Cockatoo, also with
41.70 (3.20 time penalties in the Cross Country.
The full results are available on the event's website http://www.luhmuehlen.de
(direct link http://www.luhmuehlen.de/anhaenge/216/erges010.pdf).
The outstanding organisation of the event should be noted. "Luhmühlen
is a place with a special atmosphere for us all," Andrew
Hoy commented. "Everything here is done for the good of riders
and horses."
BRILLIANT GERMAN TRIO WIN AT STRZEGOM
Germany's Andreas Dibowski riding one of his two potential Olympic
horses, the 13-year old gelding Little Lemon B, came in first
at the FEI Eventing World Cup qualifier held at Strzegom, South-western
Poland from 24 to 27 June. His final result was of 60.8 penalty
points, 10.1 points ahead of runner-up fellow countryman Bernd
Knorr. Dibowski, who also became the event's best rider, began
with a convincing Dressage score of 46.6 penalty points (68.92%).
He moved on to first place after a clear Cross Country scoring
11.2 penalties for exceeding the optimum time by 28 seconds (optimum
time 7m 36s.), which he kept thanks to a clear Jumping round (3
time penalties). This result combined with his performance at
Luhmühlen places him in fourth place in the FEI Eventing
World Cup standings with 114 points.
Bernd Knorr on Chrischona was only 17th after Dressage with 56.1
penalty points (62.61%), but thanks to his excellent Cross Country
(5.6 penalties for exceeding the optimum time), he moved to runner-up
position which he kept despite the 9 penalties in the Jumping
test. Nicole Grimm on Gandus was 3rd with a final result of 72,9
points and is closely followed by Sweden's Linda Algotsson on
My Fair Lady in 4th position with 74.5 points and Katrin Norling
on Cacao Af Tollstad, 5th with 75.7
points.
German Cross Country Course Designer Christian Zehe was closely
assisted by Marcin Konarski, very experienced international rider
and organiser of the event. Their compact track proved rather
trying allowing no clear rounds within the time. "It is a
very fair 3-star cross," Dibowski said, "requiring some
riding. The ground's slight natural unevenness has been cleverly
used and I am sure more than one rider was surprised." Virtually
all refusals occurred at narrow box type fences requiring accuracy
and placed on a slightly curving line.
A special tribute should be paid to the organisers for a putting
on a perfect event.
The full results are available on http://www.voltahorse.pl/articles.php?id=254
After ten qualifiers the leaderbord of the FEI Eventing World
Cup is as follows:
1. Darren Chiacchia (USA) - 123
2. Andrew Hoy (AUS) - 120
3. Matthew Grayling (NZL) - 118
4. Andreas Dibowski (GER) - 114
5. Phillip Dutton (AUS) - 110
6. Andrzej Pasek (POL) - 101
7. Sonja Johnson (AUS) - 100
7. Robyn Fisher (USA) - 100
7. R. de Gouveia Jr. (BRA) - 100
7. Pippa Funnell (GBR) - 100
7. Pavel Sergeev (RUS) - 100
12. Linda Algotsson (SWE) - 90
The full standings are available on the FEI's website www.horsesport.org
(section consult/results/eventing)
The next FEI Eventing World Cup qualifier will take place in Malmö
(SWE) from 16 to 18 July.
WORLD SINGLES DRIVING CHAMPIONSHIP IN ASTORP
Twenty nations to start in Astorp
Twenty nations had accepted the invitation to the World Singles
Driving Championships in Astorp, Sweden, when the definite entries
closed on 1 July.
The championships will see drivers from as far as Argentina, USA
and Canada as well as from Europe. Among them will be the individual
World Champion from Conty, France, Stephane Chouzenoux.
Preparations at the showground are well under way and the construction
of obstacles is at a final stage.
Sweden is two times World Champions in the team competition, in
1998 and 2002, and the Swedish contingent is hoping for a hat
trick on its home turf. Cecilia Qvarnström and Marie Kahrle
were both in the gold winning team of 1998 and 2002, and will
be in the forefront this time as well. Trainer Nicke Palsson has
high hopes for his drivers, but admits that the competition is
getting tougher each year.
Definite entries for the World Singles Driving Championships (CH-M-A
1)
Astorp 2004
Argentina (ARG) Team (3 drivers)
Austria (AUT) Team (3 drivers)
Belgium (BEL) Team (3 drivers)
Canada (CAN) Team (3 drivers)
Czech Republic (CZE) Team (3 drivers)
Denmark (DEN) Team (3 drivers)
Finland (FIN) Team (3 drivers)
France (FRA) Team (3 drivers)
Germany (GER) Team (3 drivers)
Great Britain (GBR) Team (3 drivers)
Ireland (IRE) Team (3 drivers)
Italy (ITA) Team (3 drivers)
Luxembourg (LUX) Team (2 drivers)
Netherlands (NED) Team (3 drivers)
Norway (NOR) Team (3 drivers)
Poland (POL) Team (3 drivers)
Portugal (POR) Team (2 drivers)
Switzerland (SUI) Team (3 drivers)
United States (USA) Team (3 drivers)
Sweden (SWE) Team (3 drivers) + 6 individual drivers
"CLUB DE FRANCE" WILL OFFER LIFE TRANSMISSION OF ALL
THE OLYMPIC EQUESTRIAN
COMPETITIONS ON GIANT SCREEN IN THE HEART OF PARIS
During the Olympic Games, the French Equestrian Federation in
cooperation with France Galop and the French TV Channel Equidia
will set up a major open space in the heart of Paris in the well-known
hippodrome of Auteuil, where all the Olympic Equestrian competitions
will be transmitted live.
The "Club de France" will be open from 14 to 27 August
(free entrance) to all Olympic and equestrian fans.
A live studio will be organised by Equidia, with commentators,
journalists and consultants who will comment the Olympic competitions
of Dressage, Eventing and Jumping.
AACHEN SCHOOL OF COURSE DESIGN - ASCD
The Aachen School of Course Design (ASCD) was founded in March
2004 by three of the most experienced course Designers in Jumping:
Arno Gego (GER), famous course designer of Aachen CHIO, Leopoldo
Palacios (VEN), FEI 2nd Vice President and Olympic Course Designer,
and Olaf Petersen, Chairman of the FEI Jumping Committee.
The decision to found ASCD came from the noting that, as many
others sports, the equestrian disciplines needed further scientific
approach in order to increase the objective knowledge in the field
of equestrian history and development, training methods, protection
and welfare of the horse but also in order to:
- raise the level of Equestrian Sport in general
- increase safety of horse and rider
- raise the attractively of Jumping Sport
- and contribute to the universality of equestrian sport.
The main objectives of the Aachen School of Course Design are
the further improvement, development and promotion of high-levelled
Course Design, for the benefit of International Tournaments, the
Olympic Sport of Jumping and the FEI.
The following activities are envisaged:
- Regular annual courses on Course Design (one/two weeks with
Certificate)
- Periodical Organisation of an International Symposium on Course
Design
-Consultation of interested parties and similar
- Annual Award for the best Master Thesis in the field of Course
Design and
Jumping Sport
The ASCD is an independent institution, which will work in close
co-operation with and under the umbrella of the FEI. The co-operation
with other institutions is envisaged.
The ASCD is considered to be the early nucleus of a later growing
and prospering school. It is starting by concentrating on a few
important, but feasible activities in order to avoid too high
starting barriers.
The 1st INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON COURSE DESIGN will be organised
from 8 to 11
December 2004 in Aachen (GER)
www.horsesport.org
.
