BARCELONA, Spain--Chef d'Equipe Robert Ridland is taking another young but talented field to Barcelona to the Nations Cup Final, Oct. 1- 3.

Laura Kraut at this summer's Olympics (Photo by Allen MacMillan)Led by veterans Laura Kraut, an Olympic team gold medalist and a member of the recent Olympic silver medal team and the Aachen gold medal winning team, and Schuyler Riley of Stockton, N.J., who has competed successfully on many Nations Cup teams, the squad includes Lillie Keenan, Spencer Smith and Michael Hughes.

Keenan of New York, N.Y., although she is only 25, has already been a member of many successful Nations Cup teams, including having ridden on the all-female team that won in Dublin.

Smith of Wellington, Fla., is also 25 and rode for the first time on a Nations Cup team in Rome in 2018, while Hughes, 26, is now riding for Stephex Stables in Meise, Belgium.

The qualifying round will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern standard time with 15 nations competing in the following order, 1. Belgium 2. Germany 3. Great Britain 4. Ireland 5. Italy 6. France 7. Spain 8. Canada 9. Brazil 10. Uzbekistan 11. Netherlands 12. Sweden 13. USA 14. Norway 15. Switzerland.

The eight teams with the lowest total faults will compete in the Final on Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern time.

 

“IN THIS 109th edition, a large part of the 10 world’s best riders will attend: Daniel Deusser, Martin Fuchs, Marlon Zanotelli, Henrick von Eckermann, Jerome Guéry and Steve Guerdat," said Santiago Mercé, president of CSIO Barcelona,.

During the three days of the event, a total of 6 competitions will take place.

The top eight nations from the first qualification round will go directly to the Sunday's final, while the remaining seven teams will compete for the Challenge Cup on Saturday evening.

Among the participants, the Swedish team as gold medalist at the Olympics in Tokyo stands out, as well as the team from Switzerland that has just won the European Championship, and the German team includes the number 1 in the world ranking, Daniel Deusser, as well as Andre Thieme, actual European Champion.

Competing for tn the Dutch team is Maikel van der Vleuten, the individual bronze medalist in the last Games.