Showjumping: Worldcup-season 2021/2022 starts in Oslo

Warendorf (fn-press).
It will be a very special World Cup season for the German show jumpers, because the final will take place in front of their home crowd in Leipzig at the beginning of April 2022. Eleven qualifying tournaments are on the World Cup schedule until then. The Oslo Horse Show in Norway's capital will kick things off this weekend. Marcus Ehning (Borken), Gerrit Nieberg (Sendenhorst) and Christian Kukuk (Riesenbeck) will be competing there for Germany. Unfortunately, there will not be a qualifier in their own country this season, as the Stuttgart German Masters had to be cancelled due to the high Corona requirements and conditions.

After the World Cup final - the highlight of every indoor season - had to be cancelled in the past two years due to Corona requirements, all hopes are now pinned on the event being able to take place in Leipzig next spring. From April 6 to 10, the World Cup Finals in the disciplines of dressage, driving, jumping and vaulting are to be held as part of the Partner Pferd trade fair. 18 show jumpers from the Western European League can qualify for this. Ehning, Nieberg and Kukuk want to take their chance right at the first stop in Oslo. Actually, their journey would have continued directly to neighboring Finland afterwards, but the organizers of the Helsinki International Horse Show have already canceled the World Cup tournament due to Corona. Thus, the second qualification of this season will take place in Lyon, France (October 27-31). The three-time overall World Cup winner Marcus Ehning, Aachen winner Daniel Deußer (Rijmenam/BEL) and the young stars Philipp Schulze-Topphoff (Havixbeck) and Kendra Claricia Brinkop (Mechelen/BEL) will be competing there.

In November, there are also only two World Cup tournaments. The traditional Stuttgart German Masters, normally a fixed and important event in the international World Cup calendar, is cancelled for the second year in a row - the conditions and requirements imposed by the infection control and occupational health and safety laws could not be ignored and could not be met, it was said on the part of the event company "in. Stuttgart". "It's a great pity that Stuttgart is cancelled and that we don't have our own World Cup tournament in Germany this year. There, more and more riders have the opportunity to collect points. Unfortunately, we don't have that this year," said national coach Otto Becker, who triumphed with Dobel's Cento in 2002, when the World Cup Final was also held in Leipzig. The demand for starting places is high, said Becker: "Of course, a World Cup Final in one's own country is always something special, so many riders want to qualify for it. Unfortunately, we only have three starting places per tournament abroad, unless an additional rider is invited, as was the case in Lyon. We really hope that Leipzig can take place and that Corona doesn't throw a spanner in the works for us here as well."

This leaves only Verona/ITA (4-7) and Madrid/ESP (25-28) as World Cup stops in November. La Coruña/ESP (10-12), London/GBR (14-20) and Mechelen/BEL (26-30) will follow in December. The new year starts with the CSI5* Basel/SUI (January 13-16), followed by Amsterdam/NED (January 27-30), Bordeaux/FRA (February 3-6) and Gothenburg/SWE (February 24-27). The last World Cup overall winner of the 2018/2019 season was Steve Guerdat. The Swiss will thus compete as defending champion this season. jbc