Western European League 2015/2016 (show jumping)

The Western European League of the FEI World Cup Jumping 2015/2016 (Longines FEI World Cup ™ Jumping 2015-2016, Western European League) is the 38th season of the Western and Central European League of the FEI World Cup Jumping . The World Cup is the most important tournament series in the indoor season in the Western European League.

Course of the tournament series

In the 2015/2016 season, Gothenburg, a classic tournament of the Western European League, will host the World Cup finals. Since Gothenburg is not part of the Western European League, the series ends very early in the indoor season with the stage in Bordeaux on February 7, 2016. There were no changes to the previous season.

The Swiss watch manufacturer Longines has been the name sponsor of the tournament series since the 2013/2014 season . All tournaments in the league are advertised as CSI 5 *, the highest category in show jumping. They are marked with the suffix -W (i.e. CSI 5 * -W) to identify them as World Cup tournaments. The best 18 riders in the Western European League and possibly additional participants (“extra competitors”) qualify for the 2016 World Cup finals .

The World Cup special stages take place on Sunday afternoons and occasionally on Saturday evenings. They are advertised as a jumping competition with a single jump- off, the height of the obstacles is up to 1.60 meters. The prize money for each of these exams is at least € 100,000 .

media

The FEI broadcasts all World Cup competitions in the Western European League for a fee via its Internet portal FEI TV. The World Cup competitions are mostly broadcast live on television in the host country; the other competitions in the Western European League are also broadcast live with a time delay in individual European countries. The pan-European sports channel Eurosport shows the exams in a 60-minute summary, which can usually be seen on the evening of the day of the exam.

The exams

1st test: Oslo

Again the Oslo Horse Show in Oslo was the prelude to the Western European League. The tournament was held in the Telenor Arena from October 15 to 18, 2015 . The world cup competition took place on October 18th from 2 p.m.

In the first round of this first special stage there was a high number of faultless rides, so that 15 of 40 starters made it into the jump-off. Of these 15, seven riders failed again in the jump-off. The first three places went entirely to French riders, Pénélope Leprevost won with her 10-year-old mare Flora de Mariposa with a lead of only 35 hundredths of a second. The best non-French participant was Marcus Ehning , who rode the Ratina Z son Comme Il Faut .

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	France Pénélope Leprevost	Flora de Mariposa	0	-	0	43.01	20th
2	France Simon Delestre	Qlassic Bois Margot	0	-	0	43.36	17th
3	France Patrice Delaveau	Lacrimoso	0	-	0	43.48	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 40 participants)

2nd test: Helsinki

The Helsinki International Horse Show was held for the second time at its new venue, Helsingin Jäähalli . The tournament was held from October 22nd to 25th, 2015. As the final test of the tournament, the World Cup test of the Western European League took place on October 25th from 3:45 p.m.

As in Oslo, there was also a large starting field in the jump-off in Helsinki, 13 participants from the first round qualified. 10 riders with their horses also made no mistakes in the jump-off, the victory went to Romain Duguet with Quorida de Treho . For the rider, this was the first victory in a World Cup competition in his sports career.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	Switzerland Romain Duguet	Quorida de Treho	0	-	0	36.85	20th
2	United Kingdom Jessica Mendoza	Spirit T	0	-	0	36.96	17th
3	Germany Daniel Deußer	Cornet d'Amour	0	-	0	37.13	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 40 participants)

3rd test: Lyon

The World Cup Equitá Lyon took place in Lyon from October 28 to November 1, 2015 . The venue was the Eurexpo exhibition center . The evaluation test of the Western European League took place on November 1st at 3 p.m.

After two very extensive jump-off starter fields in the first two stages, the jump-off in Lyon was clearer, seven riders managed a fault-free ride with their horses in the first round. Several successful starters from the stages of Oslo and Helsinki were also there: Simon Delestre came in fifth place for Qlassic Bois Margot , Romain Duguet and his mare Quorida de Treho took third place and the victory also went to an already successful couple: Pénélope Leprevost won with her For Pleasure daughter Flora de Mariposa . With this second victory (and thus 40 rating points) Leprevost had almost guaranteed her qualification for the World Cup final.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	France Pénélope Leprevost	Flora de Mariposa	0	-	0	40.64	20th
2	Germany Christian Ahlmann	Taloubet Z	0	-	0	41.27	17th
3	Switzerland Romain Duguet	Quorida de Treho	0	-	0	42.27	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 40 participants)

4th test: Verona

A stage of the Western European League also took place for the fourth weekend in a row: The Italian stage of the Western European League was held as part of the Fieracavalli. The Veronafiere in Verona was the venue for this tournament.

In the first round of the world cup jumping event, which is endowed with 175,000 euros, a large number of participants, with 15 starter pairs, remained without mistakes. In the jump-off, there were initially no faultless rides, the first run without faults was achieved with restrained pace by Max Kühner with Chardonnay . With Rolf-Göran Bengtsson , who crossed the finish line with Unita without penalty points and a good nine seconds faster than Kühner, the battle for victory began. After Maikel van der Vleuten took over the lead for a short time , Ludger Beerbaum (who had refrained from participating in the Riders Tour final for Verona) secured the lead with Chaman . Scott Brash attacked Beerbaum's time with M'Lady , he crossed the finish line with exactly the same time as Ludger Beerbaum. The victory went to the next starter, Simon Delestre, who mastered the jump-off course again over a second faster. After him, Henrik von Eckermann came onto the course, the rider from Ludger Beerbaum's stable moved up to second place behind Delestre.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	France Simon Delestre	Hermes Ryan	0	-	0	36.46	20th
2	Sweden Henrik von Eckermann	Cantinero	0	-	0	36.72	17th
3	Germany Ludger Beerbaum	Chaman	0	-	0	37.83	14th
3	United Kingdom Scott Brash	M'Lady	0	-	0	37.83	14th

(Places one to three out of a total of 39 participants)

5th exam: Stuttgart

The fifth evaluation test of the Western Europe League 2015/2016 was held as part of the Stuttgart German Masters . The tournament was held from November 18-22, 2015. The World Cup test in Stuttgart was the Stuttgart Grand Prix, which took place on the last day of the tournament from 3:25 p.m.

While three of the first eleven riders qualified for the jump-off in the first lap, the error-free rides were largely absent in the further lap, only two of 28 riders also made it into the jump-off. Douglas Lindelöw was the first rider to go into the jump-off, with his gelding Casello he made no mistakes in 51.02 seconds. After Cameron Hanley and Patrick Stühlmeyer did not manage to get to this time despite faultless rides, Christian Ahlmann took the lead as the fourth jump-off participant. Patrice Delaveau attacked again with Lacrimoso as the last starter, but got four penalty points on the wall. Since the fifth rank was determined for him, he gave up. For Ahlmann this victory was already the second big success during the tournament, two days earlier he had already won the "Stuttgart German Master".

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	Germany Christian Ahlmann	Codex One	0	-	0	49.78	20th
2	Sweden Douglas Lindelow	Casello	0	-	0	51.02	17th
3	Germany Patrick Stühlmeyer	Lacan	0	-	0	52.03	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 39 participants)

6th test: Madrid

For the second time the Madrid Horse Week, the world cup tournament in Madrid, took place from November 27th to 29th, 2015. The Feria de Madrid was the venue for this event.

The world cup competition took place on November 29th from 1 p.m. In its first lap only five of 40 starter pairs remained without errors, no participant received time penalties. Last year's winner, Carlos Enrique Lopez Lizarazo, was the first rider to start in the jump-off. With Prince de la Mare he managed a fast, faultless ride. While three other jump-off participants each crossed the finish line with four penalty points, the victory went to Christian Ahlmann. With Taloubet Z, he was 39 hundredths of a second faster than López. Within a month, Ahlmann had collected 57 points with the top results from Lyon, Stuttgart and Madrid and was almost certain to be a participant in the World Cup final.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	Germany Christian Ahlmann	Taloubet Z	0	-	0	40.98	20th
2	Colombia Carlos Enrique Lopez Lizarazo	Prince de la Mare	0	-	0	41.37	17th
3	Belgium Pieter Devos	Dream of India	0	-	4th	41.12	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 40 participants)

7. Exam: London

As always just before Christmas, 2015 from December 15 to 21, the Olympia Grand Hall in London was the location of the British World Cup, the Olympia London International Horse Show .

On the afternoon of December 20th, the World Cup competition was held in London. The first lap was unusual here, almost half of all participants (17 of 36 starter pairs) made no mistakes and made it into the jump-off. Due to the large field of jump-off participants, there was a close battle for victory: eight riders crossed the finish line again without any mistakes, the two to fifth placed participants all crossed the finish line within one second. The victory went to Emanuele Gaudiano, with Admara who was almost a second faster than second-placed Ben Maher.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	Italy Emanuele Gaudiano	Admara	0	-	0	36.20	20th
2	United Kingdom Ben Maher	Diva II	0	-	0	37.15	17th
3	United Kingdom Michael Whitaker	Viking	0	-	0	37.28	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 36 participants)

8th test: Mechelen

The Jumping Mechelen - Vlaanderens Kerst Jumping , traditionally the last major tournament of the equestrian year, found to 30 December in Belgium in 2015 of 26 Mechelen instead.

On the afternoon of Wednesday (December 30th) the World Cup competition was held. In the first lap, exactly a quarter of the 40 starter pairs managed to qualify for the jump-off with a faultless ride. Jos Verlooy and his gelding Sunshine were the first to start in the first lap and were therefore also the first pair to start in the jump-off. They managed a ride without mistakes in 42.09 seconds. Niels Bruynseels was significantly faster and without mistakes with Cas de Liberte . The interim Belgian triple lead made Jerome Guery perfect, who positioned himself between his compatriots. Christian Ahlmann was even faster with Taloubet Z and took the lead. While Laura Renwick, the penultimate starter, had nothing to do with the win with a flawless but slow lap, only Daniel Deußer, who lives in Mechelen, had a chance of winning the test. Deußer almost reached Ahlmann's time, but four penalty points threw him back to sixth place. Christian Ahlmann's third World Cup victory was thus certain within a few weeks.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	Germany Christian Ahlmann	Taloubet Z	0	-	0	39.22	20th
2	Belgium Niels Bruynseels	Cas de Liberte	0	-	0	39.37	17th
3	Belgium Jerome Guery	Papillon Z	0	-	0	40.57	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 40 participants)

9. Examination: Leipzig

The first stage of the Western European League in 2016 was held by the partner horse at the Leipzig exhibition center . The tournament was held from January 14th to 17th, 2016.

In the first round 14 out of 40 riders with their horses made no mistakes. In contrast to the normal round, the participants found the jump-off much more difficult. For a long time, Niklas Krieg and Carella were the only riders who made no mistakes. Harrie Smolders took advantage of this situation, he needed over eight seconds more than Krieg for the jump-off course with Don Z and was the second rider without any mistakes. This secured him a leading position in this test and the missing points for qualifying for the World Cup finals. Denis Lynch also made no mistakes, but was also three seconds behind the time of the leader.

Olivier Philippaerts , the penultimate starter in the jump-off, was faster than Niklas Krieg with Legend of Love , but the back bar of the last obstacle fell and prevented a change in lead. The last starter pair, Sergio Álvarez Moya and Carlo , also received four penalty points. This means that the 22-year-old Niklas Krieg was the winner of his first ever World Cup competition.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	Germany Niklas war	Carella	0	-	0	38.04	20th
2	Ireland Denis Lynch	All star	0	-	0	41.04	17th
3	Netherlands Harrie Smolders	Don Z	0	-	0	46.85	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 40 participants)

10th exam: Zurich

The 10th World Cup of the Western European League season took place in the Hallenstadion in Zurich from January 29th to 31st, 2016 .

The Classic was announced as a World Cup test on the last day of the tournament. From the first round of this test, nine riders qualified for the jump-off. The fastest rides in the jump-off were Michael Whitaker with Viking , Niklas Krieg with Carella (who was allowed to start in Zurich because of his victory in Leipzig) and Martin Fuchs with Clooney . However, all three received four penalty points, which earned them places four to six. For Niklas Krieg, the 12 evaluation points collected here, in addition to his 20 evaluation points from Leipzig, qualified for the World Cup finals.

Three pairs of starters remained without mistakes in the jump-off. With the best time of these three participants, Pius Schwizer won with the 12-year-old Future .

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	Switzerland Pius Schwizer	Future	0	-	0	41.97	20th
2	Ireland Denis Lynch	All star	0	-	0	42.34	17th
3	Australia Edwina Tops-Alexander	Caretina	0	-	0	45.31	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 39 participants)

11th test: Bordeaux

The Western European League season ended at the beginning of February 2016: the eleventh stage of the Western European League was held as part of the Jumping International de Bordeaux . This second French World Cup took place from February 5th to 7th, 2016 in the Parc de Expositions de Bordeaux .

As usual in Bordeaux, the World Cup test took place on Saturday evening. On this last chance to collect World Cup points, 17 out of 40 riders remained without mistakes in the first round.

Marcus Ehning and the gray stallion Cornado NRW stayed clear in the jump-off . They were the first couple to do this in less than 42 seconds. Edwina Tops-Alexander with Caretina (who brought the World Cup final qualification for the second top position in a row) as well as the French Simon Delestre and Kevin Staut were even faster . Staut won with the 15-year-old gelding Reveur de Hurtebise , her ride was the only one with a time under 40 seconds in the jump-off.

Denis Lynch , among others, also collected the points that were still missing for the World Cup finals . Up to and including the eighth stage of the Western European League, this had remained without points, after two second places in Leipzig and Zurich, a fifth place followed in Bordeaux, all three places he achieved with All Star .

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
	equestrian	horse	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )	scoring points
1	France Kevin Staut	Reveur de Hurtebise	0	-	0	39.86	20th
2	France Simon Delestre	Qlassic Bois Margot	0	-	0	40.74	17th
3	Australia Edwina Tops-Alexander	Caretina	0	-	0	40.90	15th

(Places one to three out of a total of 40 participants)

Overall rating

On the basis of the overall ranking, after all the special tests were completed, it was determined which 18 riders from the states in the Western European League qualify for the final. In addition, other riders from other countries could qualify for the World Cup finals via the Western European League, provided they live in the Central / Western European League. Two riders succeeded in doing this. Each rider could collect rating points in a maximum of six tests; otherwise collected rating points were deleted.

The riders were also able to collect points in the North American World Cup (see “others” in the table below). Rating points from other World Cup leagues in the world, however, were not transferred to the Western European League.

The regulations can be found in the main article on the Show Jumping World Cup .

	equestrian	Oslo	Helsinki	Lyon	Verona	Stuttgart	Madrid	London	Mechelen	Leipzig	Zurich	Bordeaux	Further	scoring points
1	Germany Christian Ahlmann	-	-	17th	-	20th	20th	-	20th	(0)	9	0	-	86
2	France Simon Delestre	17th	-	12	20th	-	2	(0)	-	10	(0)	17th	-	78
3	Netherlands Harrie Smolders	9	-	-	-	-	(0)	-	3	15th	(0)	4th	30th	58
4th	France Pénélope Leprevost	20th	-	20th	(0)	4th	-	-	-	1	0	9	-	54
5	France Kevin Staut	12	(0)	(0)	-	7th	(0)	(0)	6th	9	0	20th	-	54
6th	Belgium Jos Verlooy	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	13	-	-	0	37	50
7th	United States Audrey Coulter	1	-	-	-	2	6th	-	-	-	0	-	37	46
8th	Ireland Denis Lynch	-	-	-	-	0	0	-	0	17th	17th	12	-	46
9	Germany Marcus Ehning	13	11	-	-	(0)	0	8th	-	0	-	13	-	45
10	Belgium Nicola Philippaerts	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	9	-	-	-	33	42
11	Germany Marco Kutscher	-	-	-	9	6th	12	9	-	(0)	1	3	-	40
12	Sweden Henrik von Eckermann	0	-	0	17th	8th	13	(0)	(0)	1	(0)	(0)	-	39
13	United Kingdom Laura Renwick	-	-	-	-	-	11	5	12	-	0	11	-	39
14th	Austria Max Kühner	2	3	(0)	8th	10	(0)	10	(0)	(0)	4th	(0)	-	37
15th	Germany Daniel Deußer	(0)	15th	(0)	(0)	(0)	10	0	11	-	0	0	-	36
16	Switzerland Romain Duguet	-	20th	15th	-	-	-	-	0	-	0	-	-	35
17th	Belgium Patrice Delaveau	15th	0	0	-	12	-	-	-	0	-	8th	-	35
18th	Australia Edwina Tops-Alexander	0	-	4th	0	-	-	-	-	-	15th	15th	-	34
19th	Netherlands Maikel van der Vleuten	11	-	(0)	12	-	0	0	-	0	-	10	-	33
20th	Germany Niklas war	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20th	12	-	-	32

World Cup Finals

The show jumping World Cup final will be held in Gothenburg for the 14th time . The final tournament, which also hosts the World Cup finals for dressage riders, will take place in March, from March 23rd to 28th, 2016.