Bologna, November 8, 2023 – The Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ 2023-24 gets into full swing in Verona with the fourth of the fourteen legs in the Western European league that will lead to the final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (16-20 April 2024).
The 2023 edition of the only Italian World Cup event is scheduled from Friday 10 to Sunday 12 November (horse inspection and warm up on Thursday 9) within the framework of the 125th Fieracavalli.
Everything is ready in the stables set up for the eagerly awaited five-star event. The first horses arrived early this morning with some of the recent stars in the World Cup third leg that took place last weekend in Lyon, France.
Five of the top 10 riders in the current Western European League ranking – headed by Irishman Richard Howley – will be competing in Verona: Frenchman Simon Delestre (3rd with 27 points), Swiss Martin Fuchs (4th with 23), Swede Henrik von Eckermann (5th with 21), another Frenchman Julien Epaillard (7th with 17) and Swede Peder Fredricson (9th with 17). Epaillard and Britons Ben Maher and Harry Charles were second, third and fourth in the World Cup Grand Prix in Lyon. 18 riders among those who competed in Lyon are now awaited in Verona.
Lorenzo De Luca (9 points) and Emanuele Gaudiano (5 points), among Italian pairs, will enter the arena bearing the points scored in the three World Cup legs they entered so far.
Meanwhile, the entry list for the CSI5*-W World Cup was unveiled – CLICK HERE
The list includes 17 women and 43 men for a total of 60 entries representing 22 nations (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, USA, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland) from all 5 continents.
Featuring a top-level cast, seven riders from the Top Ten of the current FEI rankings will enter the arena in the Italian leg of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ 2023-24: Henrik von Eckermann (SWE, no. 1), Ben Maher (GBR, 2), Martin Fuchs (SUI, 4), Steve Guerdat (SUI, 5), Julien Epaillard (FRA, 7), Simon Delestre (FRA, 8) and Max Kühner (AUT, 9)
Verona: where the Champions meet
Jumping Verona 2023 will host several medallists from the FEI Jumping European Championship 2023, which took place in Milan at the Ippodromo Snai San Siro from 30 August to 3 September.
Among the competitors there are Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat and France’s Julien Epaillard, individual gold and bronze medallists respectively, and Henrik von Eckermann and Max Kühner, in the order team gold and bronze medallists with Sweden and Austria.
Talking about medals, in addition to the aforementioned von Eckermann (who is also 2021 Olympic team gold medallist, 2022 World individual and team gold medallist) and Guerdat, there are other reigning champions among the entries at Jumping Verona: Britain’s Ben Maher (2021 Olympic individual gold medallist) and Sweden’s Peder Fredricson (2021 Olympic team gold medallist, 2022 World team gold medallist).
Jumping Verona timetable – click HERE