Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup 2018

The Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup 2018 was a season of the FEI Nations Cup for show jumpers . He was thus in a tradition of more than a hundred years of Nations Cup competitions in show jumping .

Course of the tournament series

After Longines had already sponsored the Nations Cup series as the "Official Timekeeper", it expanded its involvement in the 2017 Nations Cup Final. In addition to the Global Champions Tour and several World Cup leagues , the Nations Cup was the third tournament series for show jumpers whose title sponsor is Longines. A binding requirement was introduced for the organizers that the tournaments had to bear the name "Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup ™ of ...", which could be expanded to include additional names (usually the traditional name of the tournament).

Probably the biggest change of the 2018 season was the change in the timing of the Nations Cup: with the exception of the CSIO Dublin, the traditional date on Friday afternoons was abandoned. Instead, the Nations Cup was held on Sunday afternoon to increase audience reach. In return, the Grand Prizes held at this point in time were moved to Friday.

There were unchanged seven (theoretical) divisions distributed around the world: Europe 1, Europe 2, North and Central America, South America, the Middle East, Asia / Australasia and Africa. However, since there were no corresponding Nations Cup tournaments in Asia / Australasia, Africa and South America, only four leagues were organized.

The European Division 1 was strengthened again to ten teams after a year with eight teams, and there were two changes in the venues. For the first time, not only the stages of the European top league, but all Nations Cups of the Nations Cup series as CSIO  5 *, the highest tournament category in show jumping, were announced. To achieve this, the North American Nations Cup tournaments were upgraded. The European Division 2, on the other hand, shrank to a single Nations Cup, for which the teams had to qualify at other Nations Cups.

Valuation points were awarded at every Nations Cup of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup. The points system revised for the 2014 season was used:

space	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	Further
Points	100	90	80	70	60	55	50	45	40	35	no points

The number of Nations Cups in which the teams could collect points differed depending on the division: In the European Division 1, each national association had to select five Nations Cups at the beginning of the season. The teams of the North and Central America Division were able to collect points in all three tournaments of the division.

The 2018 Nations Cup season started in mid-February, and the last Nations Cup before the finals took place in mid-August (in time for the World Equestrian Games). A final tournament was held at the end of the season. Barcelona has been chosen as the venue for the sixth time in a row. Eighteen or 19 teams qualified for the final: seven from Europe 1, two from Europe 2, two from North and Central America, two from South America, two or three from the Middle East, two from Asia / Australasia and one team from Africa . If the host country of the finals did not qualify (which it did), it was allowed to start as an additional team.

Middle East Division

The Middle East Division decided in just one Nations Cup. That Nations Cup of the United Arab Emirates was organized as part of the CSIO  5 * tournament President of UAE Show Jumping Cup . The tournament took place from February 14th to 17th, 2018. In contrast to the previous year, the venue was no longer Al-Ain , but the Al Forsan International Sports Resort in Abu Dhabi .

The tournament started on a Wednesday and ended on Saturday. The main test on the final day was the Nations Cup, which was held from 12 noon. Eight teams were at the start. After the first round, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Ireland and New Zealand were four teams with four penalty points each in the lead. While Italy and Saudi Arabia fell behind with 16 and 20 penalty points respectively in the second round, a jump-off was required between the teams of Ireland and New Zealand. Samantha McIntosh stayed clean and secured the first ever Nations Cup victory in show jumping for New Zealand.

The teams from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia both finished fourth, qualifying as the best teams in the division for the Nations Cup final.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	New Zealand (team from Asia / Australasia)	Daniel Meech	Fine	8th	4th
		Richard Gardner	Calisto	4th	4th
		Bruce Goodin	Backatorps Danny V	0	4th
		Samantha McIntosh	Check in	0	0		0	40.16
				4th	8th	12	0	40.16	€ 64,000	-
2	Ireland	Cameron Hanley	Aiyetoro	4th	4th
		David Simpson	Keoki	0	0
		Paul Kennedy	Cartown Danger Mouse	(8th)	4th
		Shane Breen	Laith	0	(8th)		17th	51.79
				4th	8th	12	17th	51.79	€ 40,000	-
3	Italy (team from Europe Division 1)	Luca Maria Moneta	Connery	4th	0
		Luca Coata	Crandessa	0	8th
		Simone Coata	Dardonge	(12)	(8th)
		Natale Chiaudani	Almero	0	8th
				4th	16	20th			€ 32,000	-
4th	United Arab Emirates			11	12	24			€ 17,000	65
	Saudi Arabia			4th	20th	24			€ 17,000	65
	Switzerland (team from Europe Division 1)	Janika Sprunger	Bacardi	4th	0
		Edwin Smits	Dandiego	12	8th
		Philipp Züger	Casanova	(16)	0
		Arthur Gustavo da Silva	Inonstop van't Voorhof	0	(8th)
				16	8th	24			€ 17,000	-
7th	Egypt (team from Africa)			16	20th	36			€ 8,000	-
8th	Syria			26th	16	42			€ 5,000	45

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

North and Central America Divisions

The tournament calendar of the North and Central America Division (full name: North and Central America & Caribbean Division ) again included three Nations Cup tournaments, all of which were held in the first half of the year.

United States Nations Cup

One day after the Abu Dhabi Nations Cup, the US Nations Cup was held. This took place for the fourth time in a row in the self-proclaimed Horse Capital of the World , Ocala . The CSIO 4 * national prize tournament was held at the HITS Post Time Farm as the fifth week of the Ocala Winter Circuit tournament series held here from February 14th to 17th, 2018.

The prize money in the Ocala Nations Cup had increased significantly compared to the previous year; instead of US $ 100,000, the endowment was now US $ 450,000.

After the first round, the teams from Canada and Germany were tied in the lead. The second round, however, was unfortunate for the German riders: Christian Heineking was eliminated. André Thieme and Markus Beerbaum each got 12 penalty points, which were fully included in the evaluation due to the already assigned strike result. The team fell back to fifth place. With the only two double clears from Ian Millar and Eric Lamaze, the Canadians secured victory.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Canada	Francois Lamontagne	Chanel du Calvaire	5	4th
		Tiffany Foster	Brighton	4th	(16)
		Ian Millar	Dixson	0	0
		Eric Lamaze	Coco Bongo	0	0
				4th	4th	8th			US $ 128,694.17	100
2	Brazil (team from South America)	Felipe Amaral	Premiere Carthoes	8th	0
		Fabio Leivas da Costa	Fox Trot vd Padenborre	(16)	(12)
		Rodrigo Lambre	Coleman	0	4th
		Yuri Mansur	inferno	0	4th
				8th	8th	16			US $ 82,014.17	-
3	Ireland (team from Europe Division 1)	Daniel Coyle	Cita	(8th)	(4)
		Paul O'Shea	Machu Picchu	4th	4th
		Darragh Kenny	Go Easy de Muze	8th	4th
		Cian O'Connor	Clenur	4th	0
				16	8th	24			US $ 58,674.17	-
	United States	Lauren Hough	Oh la la	8th	0
		Laura herb	Confu	4th	4th
		McLain Ward	Callas	(12)	(12)
		Beezie Madden	Darry Lou	4th	4th
				16	8th	24			US $ 58,674.17	75
5	Germany (team from Europe Division 1)	André Thieme	Conthendrix	0	12
		Christian Heineking	Caruso	(5)	( OUT )
		Markus Beerbaum	Cool hand hatch	4th	12
		Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum	Daisy	0	4th
				4th	28	32			US $ 35,334.17	-
6th	Mexico			26th	14th	40			US $ 25,609.17	55

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Nations Cup of Mexico

The Mexican Nations Cup tournament was held from April 18-22, 2018. The CSIO 5 * tournament was held at Club Hipico Coapexpan in Xalapa .

The Nations Cup was on the program on April 22nd from 1:00 p.m. local time. Here, too, the prize money was increased significantly, from 1,700,000 Mexican pesos to 5,690,000 pesos (approx. 250,000 euros). There were three teams at the start. The hosts' team made no mistakes in the second lap, but due to 21 penalty points from the first lap, Mexico couldn't get past last place. Canada didn't even have to start its last rider in the second lap, after three riders the second Canadian victory in the North and Central America division was certain.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Canada	Laura Jane Tidball	Concetto Son	4th	4th
		Jenn Serek	Wicked	(8th)	4th
		Jonathon Millar	Daveau	0	0
		Keean White	For Freedom Z	4th	( N.GES. )
				8th	8th	16			1,941,334 MXN	100
2	United States	Alex Granato	Carlchen W	0	0
		Kelly Soleau	Cacharel	4th	4th
		Jennifer Gates	Pumped up kicks	(12)	(8th)
		Ali Wolff	Casall	5	4th
				9	8th	17th			1,395,333 MXN	90
3	Mexico	Patricio Pasquel	Babel	(12)	0
		Salvador Oñate	Big Red	8th	(4)
		Luis Alejandro Plascencia Oñate	Davinci	5	0
		Jose Antonio Chedraui Eguia	Ninloubet	8th	0
				21st	0	21st			1,213,333  MXN	80

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Nations Cup of Canada

Two Nations Cup show jumping tournaments are held in Canada; the one in Langley (British Columbia) is part of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup. The tournament, which is advertised as CSIO 5 *, was held from May 30th to June 3rd, 2018 in the Thunderbird Show Park.

The last test of the tournament was the Nations Cup from 2 p.m. After the first round, the test was almost decided: Ireland led by 11 penalty points over Canada, the other three teams even got 20 or more penalty points. Canada's team was able to improve again in the second lap, although they only started with three riders. But Ireland was able to keep its lead and secured victory in the test.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Ireland (team from Europe Division 1)	Richie Moloney	Carrabis Z	0	0
		Capt. Brian Cournane	Dino	1	9
		Daniel Coyle	Cita	(13)	1
		Conor Swail	Rubens	1	( N.GES. )
				2	10	12			123,200  C $	-
2	Canada	Tiffany Foster	Victor	0	0
		Keean White	For Freedom Z	( OUT )	( N.GES. )
		Jonathon Millar	Daveau	8th	1
		Mario Deslauriers	Bardolina	5	4th
				13	5	18th			76,800 C $	90
3	Mexico	Lorenza O'Farrill	Queens darling	5	(16)
		Eugenio Garza Pérez	Coupis	(17)	0
		Patricio Pasquel	Babel	10	5
		Fernando Martínez summer	Cor Bakker	5	0
				20th	5	25th			C $ 56,000	80
4th	United States			23	11	34			C $ 38,400	70
5	Brazil (team from South America)			31	9	40			$ 25,600	-

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Overall ranking of the North and Central American Division

Two wins and a second place gave Canada the clear top position in the division's overall standings. Second place in the Nations Cup final in Barcelona went to the United States.

		United States	MEX	CAN	scoring points
1	Canada	100	100	90	290
2	United States	75	90	70	235
3	Mexico	55	80	80	215

Europe Division 1

After only one year with eight teams, the European Division 1 grew again to ten teams. Thus, the requirements to stay in the division or to move up into it were less demanding:

1. All teams in Europe Division 1 from the previous year (Netherlands, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Ireland and Spain)
2. The two teams from Europe Division 2 at the Nations Cup Final 2017, as far as they had participated in the final exam or the consolation exam of the Nations Cup Finals 2017 (Belgium and Great Britain)

Nations Cup of Slovakia

The European Division 1 started with a new stage: After it was clear that the Belgian Nations Cup tournament in Lummen would no longer be held, the Slovak Nations Cup was included in the top European league. The tournament took place in the capital Bratislava until 2015, and in 2016 it moved to Šamorín, 25 kilometers away . The venue there is the Hippo Arena Šamorín, which was built in 2014 and forms the heart of the X-BIONIC SPHERE sports complex and has already been discussed for hosting world equestrian games.

The tournament took place from April 26th to 29th, 2018. The Nations Cup was hosted on the final day from 1 p.m. After the first lap, Switzerland was in the lead with no penalty points, Italy followed in second place with four penalty points. The Swiss were able to use this starting position in the second round: After the fourth riders of the other teams had started, the Swiss victory was already certain. The Swiss didn't even have to bring their last rider to the start. The second round went well for the German team too, with only four penalty points. But after receiving 20 penalty points in the first lap, Germany could not improve its position, it stayed in the penultimate place.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Switzerland	Werner Muff	Daimler	0	4th
		Paul Estermann	Curtis custom	(8th)	5
		Martin Fuchs	Chaplin	0	0
		Steve Guerdat	Hannah	0	( N.GES. )
				4th	9	9			€ 64,000	100
2	Ireland	Shane Breen	Ipswich van de Wolfsakker	(12)	4th
		Mark McAuley	Utchan de Belheme	1	(8th)
		Paul O'Shea	Machu Picchu	0	0
		Shane Sweetnam	Chaqui Z	4th	4th
				5	8th	13			€ 40,000	90
3	Belgium	Nicola Philippaerts	Chilli Willi	0	0
		Wilm Vermeir	IQ from het Steentje	4th	0
		Jos Verlooy	Caracas	4th	8th
		Pieter Devos	Claire Z	(8th)	(9)
				8th	8th	16			€ 32,000	80
4th	Brazil (team from South America)			5	13	18th			€ 24,000	-
5	Italy			4th	16	20th			€ 13,500	57.5
	Sweden			8th	12	20th			€ 13,500	57.5
7th	Germany	André Thieme	Conthendrix	(13)	(8th)
		Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann	Goja	8th	0
		Laura Klaphake	Catch me if you can	4th	4th
		Philipp Weishaupt	Asathir	8th	0
				20th	4th	24			€ 8,000	50
8th	Spain			26th	12	38			€ 5,000	45

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Nations Cup of France

The second stage of the Nations Cup series was the French Nations Cup. This was organized by La Baule-Escoublac as part of the CSIO 5 * , the tournament took place from May 17th to 20th, 2018.

The Nations Cup was on the program on May 20th from 1 p.m. With a result of just two penalty points, Brazil was in the lead after the first lap. But the field was still close: The Netherlands and Spain followed with four penalty points, Switzerland, Germany and Ireland with five.

In the second round only the four penalty points for an obstacle error increased the result for the Netherlands and Switzerland. The Brazilian team received five penalty points, due to the lead from the first lap, this was just enough for victory.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Brazil (team from South America)	Luiz Felipe de Azevedo filho	Chaccomo	1	1
		Felipe Amaral	Germanico T	(5)	(9)
		Yuri Mansur	Vitiki	0	4th
		Pedro Veniss	Quabri de l'Isle	1	0
				2	5	7th			€ 64,000	-
2	Netherlands	Jur Vrieling	Glasgow van't Merelsnest	4th	(9)
		Frank Schuttert	Chianti's Champion	0	4th
		Marc Houtzager	Calimero	(5)	0
		Harrie Smolders	Don Z	0	0
				4th	4th	8th			€ 40,000	90
3	Switzerland	Werner Muff	Daimler	4th	(11)
		Paul Estermann	Lord Pepsi	0	4th
		Alain Jufer	Tic Tac	1	0
		Steve Guerdat	Hannah	(8th)	0
				5	4th	9			€ 32,000	80
4th	Spain			4th	8th	12			€ 24,000	70
5	Germany	Marcus Ehning	Pret a toout	0	4th
		Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum	Calle	(12)	(8th)
		Markus Beerbaum	Cool hand hatch	5	5
		Maurice Tebbel	Chaccos' Son	0	0
				5	9	14th			€ 16,000	60
6th	Ireland			5	12	17th			€ 11,000	55
7th	France			8th	12	20th			€ 8,000	50
8th	Canada (team from the North and Central America Division)			10	25th	35			€ 5,000	-

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Nations Cup of Switzerland

France's winning team in the Nations Cup in St. Gallen

The venue for the Swiss stage of the Nations Cup is St. Gallen . The CSIO Switzerland , Switzerland 's Nations Cup tournament, took place from May 31 to June 3, 2018 in the Grundmoos stadium.

In the first round of the Nations Cup, which was held on June 3rd from 2 p.m., there were a large number of mistakes, only three nations had a single-digit team result. There were only seven teams at the start after Samantha McIntosh withdrew her horse for health reasons and the New Zealand team did not come into being. France was clearly in the lead, and this did not change in the second lap either: In both laps the first three French riders with their horses made no mistakes, so that Olivier Robert did not have to start at all as the final rider. The teams from Great Britain and Germany also remained flawless in the second round. Due to the penalty points from the first round, these teams were only able to finish fourth and fifth.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	France	Mathieu Billot	Shiva d'Amaury	0	0
		Alexandra Francart	Volnay du Boisdeville	0	0
		Nicolas Delmotte	ilex	0	0
		Olivier Robert	Eros	( N.GES. )	( N.GES. )
				0	0	0			€ 64,715	100
2	Switzerland	Werner Muff	Daimler	4th	0
		Beat Mändli	Dsarie	(4)	4th
		Steve Guerdat	Bianca	0	0
		Martin Fuchs	Chaplin	0	( AUFG )
				4th	4th	8th			€ 40,715	90
3	Belgium	Yves Vanderhasselt	Jeunesse	1	0
		François Mathy Jr	Uno de la Roque	0	(8th)
		Christophe Vanderhasselt	Identity Vitseroel	(16)	0
		Wilm Vermeir	IQ from het Steentje	8th	4th
				9	4th	13			€ 32,715	80
4th	Germany	Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann	Goja	8th	0
		Christian Kukuk	Luke	4th	0
		Hans-Dieter Dreher	Berlinda	4th	0
		Marcus Ehning	Pret a toout	(8th)	( AUFG )
				16	0	16			€ 24,715	70
5	Great Britain			17th	0	17th			€ 16,715	60
6th	Spain			16	4th	20th			€ 11,715	55
7th	Brazil (team from South America)			5	13	18th			€ 8,715	-

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Nations Cup of Poland

The Polish Nations Cup tournament in Sopot has been held as a CSIO 5 * tournament since 2015 . In 2018 it was part of Europe Division 1 for the first time, replacing the CSIO Rome . The venue for the tournament, which was held from June 14th to 17th, 2018, was the Hipodrom Sopot, located directly on the city limits of Gdansk .

In the Nations Cup on the Sunday of the tournament, Belgium was in the lead with only one time error after the first round, Sweden followed in second place with an obstacle error. After the German team was still in the middle of the eight teams with eight penalty points after the first round, the failure of the previous stages continued in the second round. All four riders got eight penalty points each, so Germany fell back to last place. Sweden also fell back due to 20 more penalty points. Belgium's riders, on the other hand, confirmed their current high level of performance in show jumping. The team boss Peter Weinberg didn't even need to start their last pair of starters , the victory was already certain.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Belgium	Olivier Philippaerts	Ikker	0	8th
		Pieter Devos	Claire Z	(4)	0
		Jérôme Guery	Garfield de Tiji des Templiers	0	4th
		Niels Bruynseels	Cas de Liberte	1	( N.GES. )
				1	12	13			256,000  zł	100
2	France	Mathieu Billot	Shiva d'Amaury	(12)	(9)
		Kevin Staut	For Joy van't Zorgvliet	4th	0
		Olivier Robert	Eros	0	0
		Nicolas Delmotte	Vagabond de la Pomme	4th	8th
				8th	8th	16			170,000 zł	90
3	United States (team from the North and Central America Division)	Lillie Keenan	Super Sox	(9)	(8th)
		Jamie Barge	Luebbo	4th	5
		Devin Ryan	Eddie Blue	0	4th
		Margie Goldstein-Engle	Royce	4th	4th
				8th	13	21st			130,000 zł	-
4th	Poland (team from Europe Division 2)			14th	10	24			110,000 zł	-
	Sweden			4th	20th	24			110,000 zł	65
6th	Spain			10	17th	27			55,000 zł	55
7th	Italy			13	16	29			35,000 zł	50
8th	Germany	Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann	Goja	4th	(8th)
		Denis Nielsen	DSP Cashmoaker	(4)	8th
		Hans-Dieter Dreher	Berlinda	0	8th
		Maurice Tebbel	Don Diarado	4th	8th
				8th	24	32			27,000 zł	45

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Nations Cup of the Netherlands

The Netherlands Nations Cup tournament celebrated its anniversary in 2018: In 1948, a Nations Cup in show jumping was held for the first time in Rotterdam . In 2018, the CHIO Rotterdam was held from June 21st to 24th, 2018.

After the Nations Cup in Sopot, the German national coach Otto Becker criticized the fact that the performance of the German Nations Cup teams is currently insufficient to be able to keep up in the first division. There must be a jolt through the active. In the Nations Cup in Rotterdam, Becker started some of his strongest rider-horse pairs and the speech seemed to have an effect: The first three riders of the team made no mistakes, Philipp Weishaupt was able to spare his horse for the second round. Belgium also had an error-free result in the first round.

In the second round, penalty points prevented a complete zero-error result for Germany on the first two German rides. Belgium, on the other hand, went three times without mistakes and won the second Nations Cup in a row.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Belgium	Nicola Philippaerts	Chilli Willi	0	0
		Niels Bruynseels	Cas de Liberte	(13)	0
		Jos Verlooy	Igor	0	0
		Pieter Devos	Espoir	0	( N.GES. )
				0	0	0			€ 64,000	100
2	Germany	Marcus Ehning	Comme il faut	0	4th
		Markus Beerbaum	Cool hand hatch	0	(8th)
		Laura Klaphake	Catch me if you can	0	0
		Philipp Weishaupt	Convall	( N.GES. )	0
				0	4th	4th			€ 40,000	90
3	United States (team from the North and Central America Division)	Beezie Madden	Breitling	4th	(8th)
		Adrienne Sternlicht	Cristalline	0	4th
		Laura herb	ceremony	(4)	0
		McLain Ward	Clinta	0	4th
				4th	8th	12			€ 24,000	-
	Netherlands	Harrie Smolders	Don Z	0	0
		Michel Hendrix	Baileys	8th	4th
		Marc Houtzager	Calimero	0	0
		Jur Vrieling	Glasgow van't Merelsnest	(8th)	(12)
				8th	4th	12			€ 24,000	70
	Switzerland	Janika Sprunger	Bacardi	0	0
		Niklaus Rutschi	Cardano CH	4th	4th
		Beat Mändli	Dsarie	(8th)	4th
		Steve Guerdat	Alamo	(0)	(12)
				4th	8th	12			€ 24,000	70
6th	Great Britain			8th	8th	16			€ 9,500	52.5
	France			16	0	16			€ 9,500	52.5
8th	Sweden			15th	4th	19th			€ 8,715	45

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Nations Cup of Sweden

The annual venue for the Swedish Nations Cup tournament is Skanör med Falsterbo , located on the south-western tip of the country . The Falsterbo Horse Show was held from July 11th to 15th, 2018.

The eight teams competed in the Nations Cup on July 15 from 1:00 p.m. Denmark and Norway were at the start as visiting teams from other leagues. After the first round, the teams were still largely close to one another, four teams had received four or fewer penalty points. Spain and Norway, on the other hand, already collected 20 penalty points each and also finished the test in the last two places.

At the end of the second round Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden were tied at the top of the field, so a jump-off was necessary. Each of the four teams sent a rider to the jump-off. The four jump-off participants all made no mistakes in the jump-off, so that the time required decided the victory. Johnny Pals and the stallion Chat Botte du Ruisseau Z were the only ones who stayed under 40 seconds, thus securing the Netherlands' victory in the Nations Cup.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Netherlands	Maikel van der Vleuten	Idi utopia	4th	0
		Michel Hendrix	Baileys	( OUT )	( N.GES. )
		Johnny Pals	Chat Botte du Ruisseau Z	0	0		0	39.33
		Jur Vrieling	Glasgow van't Merelsnest	0	0
				4th	0	4th	0	39.33	€ 64,000	100
2	Ireland	Bertram Allen	Gin Chin from the Lindenhof	0	4th
		Mark McAuley	Utchan de Belheme	0	(4)
		Daniel Coyle	Cita	(12)	0		0	40.47
		Paul O'Shea	Machu Picchu	0	0
				0	4th	4th	0	40.47	€ 40,000	90
3	Sweden	Henrik von Eckermann	Mary Lou	4th	(4)		0	41.52
		Malin Baryard-Johnsson	Indiana	0	0
		Douglas Lindelow	Zacramento	(4)	0
		Peder Fredricson	Christian K	0	0
				4th	0	4th	0	41.52	€ 32,000	80
4th	Italy	Luca Marziani	Tokyo du Soleil	0	0		0	42.71
		Giulia Martinengo Marquet	Verdine	(5)	(4)
		Piergiorgio Bucci	Diesel GP du Bois Madame	4th	0
		Bruno Chimirri	Tower Mouche	0	0
				4th	0	4th	0	42.71	€ 24,000	70
5	Great Britain			5	1	6th			€ 16,000	60
6th	Denmark (team from Europe Division 2)			9	10	19th			€ 11,000	-
7th	Spain			20th	9	29			€ 8,000	50
8th	Norway (team from Europe Division 2)			20th	36	56			€ 5,000	-

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Nations Cup of Great Britain

The last two stages of the Nations Cup took place in the British Isles. The Great Britain Nations Cup was held at Hickstead, West Sussex. The Royal International Horse Show was held from July 25th to 29th, 2018.

Only seven teams competed in the Nations Cup. In the first round there were several mistakes, Great Britain and Ireland were in the lead after the first round with eight penalty points each. In the second round, both teams got the same number of penalty points, so nothing changed in the joint lead. Thus a lancing was required. Anthony Condon finished the jump-off course without mistakes, over two seconds faster than his competitor Holly Smith. This earned Ireland the victory.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Ireland	Trevor Breen	Bombay	4th	4th
		Richie Moloney	Freestyle de Muze	0	4th
		Michael Duffy	Top contender	4th	0
		Anthony Condon	Aristio	(4)	( AUFG )		0	41.29
				8th	8th	16	0	41.29	€ 64,714.28	100
2	Great Britain	Scott Brash	Shelby	( OUT )	( OUT )
		Holly Smith	Hearts Destiny	4th	4th		0	43.39
		Amanda Derbyshire	Luibanta	4th	0
		William Whitaker	Utamaro d'Ecaussines	0	4th
				8th	8th	16	0	43.39	€ 40,714.28	90
3	Brazil (team from South America)	Felipe Amaral	Premiere Carthoes	8th	0
		Pedro Junqueira Muylaert	Prince Royal Z	(12)	4th
		Luiz Felipe de Azevedo filho	Chaccomo	8th	(20)
		Marlon Modolo Zanotelli	Sirene de la Motte	0	0
				16	4th	20th			€ 32,714.28	-
4th	Sweden			16	8th	24			€ 24,714.28	70
5	Belgium			9	16	25th			€ 16,714.28	60
6th	Italy			17th	13	30th			€ 11,714.28	55
7th	Netherlands			16	UP	-			€ 8,714.28	50

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Nations Cup of Ireland

The Irish Nations Cup tournament, hosted in Dublin , took place from August 8th to 12th in 2018. In contrast to all other Nations Cups of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup 2018, the Nations Cup of the traditional Dublin Horse Show was not on the program on Sunday - the organizers in Dublin kept Friday as Nations Cup Day.

Two guest teams from North America, the United States and Mexico, completed the starting field of the European teams. After the first round, Ireland was in first place without a mistake, Italy followed in second place with four penalty points. But the result was completely mixed up in the second round: On their second rides none of the Irish team riders went without errors. Ireland now had 12 penalty points. France and Italy had the same final result, so that these three teams shared second place. Mexico had eight penalty points as an interim result after the first round. In the second round, however, the Mexicans made no further mistakes and were thus in first place at the end of the test.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money	scoring points
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Mexico (team from the North and Central America Division)	Eugenio Garza Pérez	Victer Finn Z	(12)	0
		Federico Fernández	Country Peter do Feroleto	4th	(4)
		Patricio Pasquel	Babel	0	0
		Enrique González	Chacna	4th	0
				8th	0	8th			€ 64,000	-
2	Ireland	Shane Sweetnam	Main Road	0	4th
		Mark McAuley	Utchan de Belheme	0	( OUT )
		Paul O'Shea	Machu Picchu	(4)	4th
		Cameron Hanley	Quirex	0	4th
				0	12	12			€ 32,000	80
	France	Kevin Staut	For Joy van't Zorgvliet	(8th)	4th
		Alexandra Francart	Volnay du Boisdeville	0	0
		Alexis Deroubaix	Timon d'Aure	4th	0
		Mathieu Billot	Quel Filou	4th	(15)
				8th	4th	12			€ 32,000	80
	Italy	Luca Marziani	Tokyo du Soleil	0	0
		Bruno Chimirri	Tower Mouche	4th	(8th)
		Piergiorgio Bucci	Diesel GP du Bois Madame	(8th)	4th
		Lorenzo de Luca	Irenice Horta	0	4th
				4th	8th	12			€ 32,000	80
5	United States (team from the North and Central America Division)			8th	8th	16			€ 16,000	-
6th	Great Britain			16	5	21st			€ 11,000	55
7th	Netherlands			24	8th	32			€ 8,000	50
8th	Switzerland	Werner Muff	Jazoe van't Steenpaal	12	( N.GES. )
		Paul Estermann	Curtis custom	(16)	9
		Arthur da Silva	Inonstop van't Voorhof	4th	5
		Steve Guerdat	Alamo	0	4th
				16	18th	34			€ 5,000	45

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Overall ranking Europe Division 1

The seven best-placed teams in the overall standings qualified for the Nations Cups final from Europe Division 1. The teams could each take part in five stages, the points scored there were included in the evaluation.

No teams clearly dominated the season: Belgium with two wins and Ireland with three top two placings were in the first two places in the overall standings. With a last place in Dublin, Switzerland missed its chance for the top spot and came in third. It was tight between sixth and ninth place, with just five points separating these four nations. For Germany, which achieved a podium position at the World Equestrian Games at the end of the green season, the season started badly: the first five Nations Cups had been chosen for participation. Only the second place in the fifth chance to collect evaluation points could meet the own demands. The German team missed the direct qualification for Barcelona.

		SVK	FRA	SUI	POLE	NED	SWE	GBR	IRL	scoring points
1	Belgium	80	-	80	100	100	-	60	-	420
2	Ireland	90	55	-	-	-	90	100	80	415
3	Switzerland	100	80	90	-	70	-	-	45	385
4th	France	-	50	100	90	52.5	-	-	80	372.5
5	Netherlands	-	90	-	-	70	100	50	50	360
6th	Great Britain	-	-	60	-	52.5	60	90	55	317.5
7th	Sweden	57.5	-	-	65	45	80	70	-	317.5
8th	Germany	50	60	70	45	90	-	-	-	315
9	Italy	57.5	-	-	50	-	70	55	80	312.5
10	Spain	45	70	55	55	-	50	-	-	275

Europe Division 2

The European Division 2 includes all European teams that were not qualified for the European Division 1 of 2018.

The European Division 2 completely changed its procedure and character compared to the previous year: The division itself only consisted of one (final) tournament, which was held at the same time as the last stage of the European Division 1 in Budapest. In order to take part in this final, the nations had to qualify through one of four groups. The nations were divided as follows:

group	Nations	Starting places for Budapest	Qualified nations
Group A	Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania	2	Greece and Bulgaria
Group B	Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine	1	Ukraine
Group C	Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Portugal	3	Portugal, Austria and the Czech Republic
Group D	Norway, Denmark, Poland, Finland, Luxembourg	2	Poland and Norway

The six qualification nations' prizes each served as a special test for groups:

• CSIO3 * Linz: Groups B and C
• CSIO3 * Drammen: Groups B and D
• CSIO3 * Uggerhalne: Groups B and D
• CSIO3 * Lisbon: Groups B and C
• CSIO2 * Athens: Groups A and B
• CSIO1 * Boschurischte: Groups A and B

Nations Cup of Budapest

The Hungarian Nations Cup tournament, upgraded to CSIO 5 *, was held in Budapest from August 9th to 12th, 2018 . It took place on the area of ​​the National Riding Hall (Nemzeti Lovarda) located directly opposite the Ostbahnhof .

The Nations Cup was held on August 12th from 1:00 p.m. With the exception of Ukraine, all qualified teams competed. After the first round, the outcome of the test was still open: Austria was in the lead with no mistakes, followed in second place by Hungary, Portugal and the Czech Republic with four penalty points each. While the result of all other teams increased to 12 or more penalty points in the second round, Austria's team again remained without errors. Austria (winner) and Hungary (second place) qualified for the Nations Cup final in Barcelona.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round	2nd round	Penalty points (total)	Sting		Prize money
				Penalty points	Penalty points		Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Austria	Christian Rhomberg	Saphyr des Lacs	(8th)	0
		Julia Houtzager-Kayser	Cayetano Z	0	0
		Felix Koller	Captain Future	0	0
		Max Kühner	Final	0	(4)
				0	0	0			€ 64,312.50
2	Hungary	Szabolcs Krucsó	Chacco Blue II	0	4th
		Gábor Szabó jr.	Bolcsesz	4th	0
		András Kövy jr.	Eureka	(8th)	(9)
		Balázs Horváth	Zordon	0	4th
				4th	8th	12			€ 40,312.50
3	Norway	Victoria Gulliksen	Deville	1	4th
		Lisa Ulven	Didi de Goedereede	8th	(4)
		Johan-Sebastian Gulliksen	David Guetta	(8th)	0
		Geir Gulliksen	Exit of Ice Z	0	0
				9	4th	13			€ 32,312.50
4th	Portugal	Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida	Chopin's Bushi	0	8th
		Duarte Seabra	Curra Quinn	0	8th
		Luis Sabino Gonçalves	Unesco du Rouet	4th	(8th)
		Luciana Diniz	Lennox	(4)	0
				4th	16	20th			€ 24,312.50
5	Czech Republic			4th	16	20th			€ 16,312.50
6th	Poland			16	8th	24			€ 11,312.50
7th	Greece			21st	17th	38			€ 8,312.50
8th	Bulgaria			12	40	52			€ 2,312.50

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

final

General

Barcelona also hosted the Nations Cup final for the sixth year in a row. The CSIO Barcelona was held from October 5th to 7th, 2018 on the grounds of the Real Club de Polo de Barcelona .

The process of the final tournament was fundamentally changed: As with almost all special stages, the decisive Nations Cup in the final was moved to Sunday afternoon. In return, the Grand Prize, which has been held for over 100 years, was canceled.

The first test for all teams in the finals was a jumping competition after mistakes (with one round) on Friday evening. From this test, the eight best teams qualified for the final test. That final test was advertised as a jumping test based on mistakes and time . The mistakes from the first exam were not included in the final exam. In the event of a tie in first place, the final test would have been decided in a jump-off, in which three riders per team would have started.

For the teams that did not qualify for the final exam from the first test of the final, a consolation test was planned with the Challenge Cup. Like the final test, this test was advertised as a jumping competition with a one-time jump-off, but in normal circulation time only played a role in relation to time penalties.

Teams

In accordance with the Nations Cup regulations, 18 teams qualified for the final.

These were the following teams from the divisions:

• Europe Division 1: Belgium , Ireland , Switzerland , France , Netherlands , Great Britain , Sweden       
• Europe Division 2: Austria , Hungary  
• Middle East Division: United Arab Emirates , Saudi Arabia , Qatar   
• North and Central America Divisions: Canada , United States  

From the regions without Nations Cup divisions, the following teams were named for the final tournament:

• South America: Brazil (second starting place was not awarded) 
• Asia / Australasia: New Zealand , Japan  
• Africa: Egypt 

Since the Nations Cup final took place only two weeks after the World Equestrian Games in North America , many non-European nations decided not to start in Barcelona. All qualified teams from Asia / Australasia and Africa declared that they would not participate. From the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Qatar renounced. Qatar had qualified through a special rule (A third team from the Middle East could get a place for the Nations Cup final if political reasons made it impossible to start at the Middle East Qualifying Nations Cup. The political reasons resulted from the Qatar- Crisis ). From the European Division 2, Hungary decided not to participate.

Thus, a number of starting places became available, which enabled the two unqualified teams of the Europe Division 1 (Germany and Italy) to start in Barcelona.

Results

Qualification test

In the qualifying test, in which no prize money was awarded, 15 teams competed. As in the final of the Europe Division 2, Austria came first without any obstacle errors (but in Barcelona with a time penalty). The Austrians shared the top ranking with Italy.

The decision to enter the final examination was tight: four nations had collected eight penalty points tied. Although the time required was not a factor in this test, it became the decisive factor. The two teams from here that had needed less than 228 seconds (Switzerland and France) were led to seventh place. Those two teams in this group of four that were slower, on the other hand, were ranked ninth and thus missed the final exam. This affected Germany and the United States. Host Spain confirmed their modest performance this season and finished last.

	team	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Austria	1
	Italy	1
3	Sweden	4th
	Belgium	4th
	Netherlands	4th
6th	Ireland	5
7th	Switzerland	8th	226.89
	France	8th	227.48
9	Germany	8th	228.24
	United States	8th	231.20
11	Canada	9
12	Great Britain	12
	Brazil	12
14th	United Arab Emirates	30th
15th	Spain	34

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Consolation test

For the German team, the Nations Cup season ended with a conciliatory conclusion: it started with a weak start to the season, followed by victories in the lavish Nations Cups in Aachen and Calgary and the team bronze medal at the World Cup, followed by a victory in the Challenge Cup in Barcelona.

In second place came the second team that narrowly missed the final test of the Nations Cup final, the United States. The United Arab Emirates, which had won the Challenge Cup last year, came last in 2018.

	team	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Prize money
1	Germany	Philipp Weishaupt	Asathir	0
		Hans-Dieter Dreher	Berlinda	(9)
		Maurice Tebbel	Chaccos' Son	5
		Marcus Ehning	Comme il faut	0
				5	€ 68,215
2	United States	Jessica Springsteen	Zecilie	( AUFG )
		Andrew Kocher	Kahlua	8th
		Alex Granato	Carlchen W	0
		Lucy Deslauriers	Hester	1
				9	€ 63,215
3	Brazil	Felipe Amaral	Germanico T	(11)
		Karina Johannpeter	Casper	6th
		Stephan de Freitas Barcha	Artois d'Avillon	4th
		Marlon Modolo Zanotelli	Sirene de la Motte	0
				10	€ 53,215
4th	Spain	Eduardo Álvarez Aznar	Seringat	0
		Pilar Lucrecia Cordon	Galine La Cour	9
		Mikel Aizpurua Quiroga	Cartanya	6th
		Manuel Fernandez Saro	Usador du Rouet	( AUFG )
				15th	€ 43,215
5	Canada			16	€ 33,215
6th	Great Britain			20th	€ 23,215
7th	United Arab Emirates			40	€ 15,715

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Final exam (Nations Cup Final 2018)

Due to the postponement of the final test to Sunday, it did not take place under floodlights as in the previous year. The exam started at 3:00 p.m. According to the occasion, the test was challenging, only four riders with their horses did not fail. The Swiss team, which did not start with their strongest team, had a black day and collected 32 penalty points. This earned them eighth place. Austria could not match the performance of the qualification test and came in seventh.

The podium was secured by three teams that had not lived up to their goals at the World Equestrian Games shortly before: The riders of the European Champion Ireland, trained by Rodrigo Pessoa , came in third with a solid team performance (two times four and two times eight penalty points) in Barcelona. Second place went to Olympic champion France. The French had not made the Olympic qualification for 2020 in Tryon and, like Ireland, got 16 penalty points in Barcelona. The time they needed was more than seven seconds faster, bringing them silver.

Belgium, which a few years ago was still the " elevator team " between the Nations Cup tables, had blossomed into one of the strongest teams in show jumping. Trained by Peter Weinberg since 2017 , he achieved fourth place at the European Championships in 2017 , the clear victory of Europe Division 2 and third place in the Nations Cup final. In 2018 he won the European Division 1. While the Belgians narrowly missed qualifying for the round of the top ten nations at the 2018 World Equestrian Games, they wiped out the gap again in Barcelona: With a mixed team performance, but as the sole team with two clear rounds, it was enough to win the Nations Cup. Finals.

	team	equestrian	horse	1st round		Prize money
				Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Belgium	Niels Bruynseels	Gancia de Muze	0
		Pieter Devos	Claire Z	(12)
		Jos Verlooy	Caracas	12
		Nicola Philippaerts	Harley v / d Bisschop	0
				12	228.40	€ 417,000
2	France	Kevin Staut	For Joy van't Zorgvliet	4th
		Cedric Angot	Saxo de la Cour	4th
		Mathieu Billot	Quel Filou	(17)
		Olivier Robert	Eros	8th
				16	223.69	€ 251,000
3	Ireland	Billy Twomey	Kimba Flamenco	4th
		Anthony Condon	Aristio	4th
		Michael G. Duffy	Lapuccino	(8th)
		Darragh Kenny	Balou du Reventon	8th
				16	231.13	€ 167,000
4th	Italy	Luca Marziani	Tokyo du Soleil	8th
		Riccardo Pisani	Chaclot	0
		Bruno Chimirri	Tower Mouche	8th
		Lorenzo de Luca	Ensor de Litrange LXII	(8th)
				16	232.89	€ 113,000
5	Netherlands	Frank Schuttert	Chianti's Champion	(8th)
		Leopold van Asten	Beauty	8th
		Marc Houtzager	Calimero	4th
		Harrie Smolders	Emerald	4th
				16	233.85	€ 91,000
6th	Sweden	Jonna Ekberg	Univers du Vinnebus	(20)
		Stephanie Holmen	Flip's Little Sparrow	12
		Irma Karlsson	Ida van de Bisschop	8th
		Peder Fredricson	Catch me not S.	0
				20th	229.44	€ 75,000
7th	Austria	Roland Englbrecht	Chambery	(17)
		Julia Houtzager-Kayser	Cayetano Z	4th
		Felix Koller	Captain Future	12
		Max Kühner	Final	4th
				20th	235.13	€ 70,000
8th	Switzerland	Barbara Schnieper	Cicero F	12
		Bryan Balsiger	Clouzot de Lassus	8th
		Arthur Gustavo da Silva	Inonstop van't Voorhof	16
		Steve Guerdat	Alamo	12
				32	231.88	€ 66,000

(Excluded penalty points do not count as a crossed result for the team result)

Web links

• Past FEI Nations Cup Jumping Editions on the FEI website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Longines new long-term sponsor FEI Nations Cup series , St. Georg, August 27, 2017
2. ↑ Nations Cup series with new stations , Stephanie Sieckmann / grandprix-replay.com, January 30, 2018
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Rules Longines FEI Nations Cup Series , version with changes marked, as of February 14, 2018 (English)
4. ↑ CSIO5 * -NC MEast Abu Dhabi, 14/02/2018 To 17/02/2018 in the FEI tournament calendar
5. ^ New Zealand win first-ever showjumping Nations Cup event , stuff.co.nz, February 18, 2018
6. ^ Result Nations Cup Abu Dhabi 2018
7. ↑ CSIO4 * -NC NAm Ocala FL, 14/02/2017 to 19/02/2017 , data.fei.org
8. ↑ CSIO5 * -NC NAm Ocala FL, 13/02/2018 To 18/02/2018 , data.fei.org
9. ^ Result Nations Cup Ocala 2018
10. ↑ Result of the Nations Cup Xalapa-Coapexpan 2018
11. ^ Result Langley Nations Cup 2018
12. ↑ Overall ranking of the North and Central American League (PDF)
13. ↑ World Equestrian Games 2022: Samorin jumped off, looking for a new venue
14. ↑ Result of the Nations Cup Šamorín 2018
15. ^ Result of the Nations Cup Šamorín 2018 , fei.org
16. ^ Result of the La Baule Nations Cup 2018 , fei.org
17. ^ Result of the La Baule Nations Cup 2018
18. ↑ In Tryon we can push kiwis into the top ten , Interview with Samantha McIntosh, pferdewoche.ch, June 5, 2018
19. ↑ Result of the Nations Cup St. Gallen 2018
20. ^ Result of the Nations Cup Sopot 2018
21. ↑ Sopot: Disappointing Nations Cup , pferd-aktuell.de, June 17, 2018
22. ↑ Result of the Nations Cup Rotterdam 2018
23. ↑ Result of the Nations Cup Falsterbo 2018
24. ↑ Result of the Nations Cup Hickstead 2018
25. ↑ Result of the Nations Cup Dublin 2018
26. ↑ Final result of the overall ranking Europe Division 1 (PDF)
27. ↑ 2018 Standings Division 2 Group A , inside.fei.org (PDF)
28. ↑ 2018 Standings Division 2 Group B , inside.fei.org (PDF)
29. ↑ 2018 Standings Division 2 Group C , inside.fei.org (PDF)
30. ↑ 2018 Standings Division 2 Group D , inside.fei.org (PDF)
31. ↑ Result of the Nations Cup Budapest 2018 (PDF)
32. ^ Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup - 2018 Participating Nations , accessed December 31, 2018
33. ↑ Result of qualification test Nations Cup Final 2018 (PDF)
34. ↑ Result of the consolation test Nations Cup Final 2018 (PDF)
35. ↑ Result of the final examination Nations Cup Final 2018 (PDF)