Dressage Worldcup season starts in Herning
Warendorf (fn-press).
After a long and successful outdoor season, the dressage riders are now returning to the indoor arena. This weekend, the World Cup season of the Western European League officially begins in Herning, Denmark, where the German riders and their horses can qualify for the final in Leipzig.
As in the years before, World Cup events in the Eastern Europe League have already taken place during the summer months, where some German riders* have already collected points for the final. Among them, for example, Frederic Wandres (Hagen a.T.W.). With his top horse Duke of Britain FRH he won the World Cup Freestyle in London in 2018. After the long Corona-related World Cup break, he is now aiming to take part in the World Cup Final for the first time, which is scheduled to take place in Leipzig from April 6 to 10, 2022. 20 points are already on his account after he won the World Cup Freestyle in Samorin, Slovakia, with Hot Hit in June. This means that Wandres is currently the best German in sixth place in the World Cup rankings. Athletes in the Western Europe League are also allowed to take part in the qualifications of another league twice, once they are allowed to take the full number of points they have earned into their own league, and the second time they are allowed to take half of the points, according to the rules.
In addition to Wandres, Ingrid Klimke (Münster) and Helen Langehanenberg (Billerbeck) will also be competing in Herning. At the same time, Olympic and European Champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (Aubenhausen) as well as Lena Waldmann (Werder) will compete in Zakrzow, Poland. The Western Europe League then moves on to Lyon/FRA (October 27-31), where defending champion Isabell Werth (Rheinberg) and Carina Scholz (Sassenberg) will also start the World Cup season. Whether there will be a "home World Cup" for the German starters in 2021 has not yet been decided. The Stuttgart German Masters, which traditionally takes place in November, had to be cancelled again due to Corona. "Frankfurt has applied for a World Cup stop, but the answer from the FEI is still pending. Of course it would be very nice if Frankfurt gets the nod," said national trainer Monica Theodorescu. Another World Cup station would also be important because the tournament in Salzburg, which was supposed to take place at the beginning of December, has also been cancelled.
Thus, after Lyon, Madrid/ESP (November 25-27), London/GBR (December 14-20) and Mechelen/BEL (December 26-30) are still on the schedule in the current year. The new year starts with the qualification in Amsterdam/NED (January 27-30). The German participants will then continue with the World Cup in front of their home crowd in Neumünster (February 17-20), before the tournaments in Gothenburg (February 24-27) and s'Hertogenbosch/NED (March 10-13) are scheduled shortly thereafter. What is new this year is that instead of the "usual" Grand Prix, the short Grand Prix, which had been tested in previous years, will be ridden as the first competition at all World Cup stops. However, World Cup points will still be collected in the Grand Prix Freestyle. The nine riders* with the most points from the Western Europe League qualify for the World Cup Final, but only three from one nation. One starting place is reserved for defending champion Isabell Werth, who most recently triumphed three times in a row (2017, 2018 and 2019) with Weihegold OLD at the World Cup Final. jbc
