BARCELONA, Spain--Eight of the world’s best teams will compete in the League of Nations Jumping Nations Cup Final, Oct. 6-9 in Barcelona.
Aaron Vale on Carissimo, third in the Dublin Grand Prix
The countries in the Final are Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA and they will be joined by the hosts from Spain who will be making a guest appearance.
With all three individual medalists from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games joined by four of the top 10 in the latest world rankings, the series finale promises a fierce fight for the honor of becoming the very first country to claim the prestigious new title.
Ireland finished first after the qualifying competitions in the inaugural League of Nations, and the team for the Final will include Daniel Coyle, Denis Lynch, Cian O’Connor, Michael Pender and Mark McAuley led by Chef d’Equipe Michael Blake.
Sweden finished second in the League, and Chef d'Equipe Henrik Ankarcrona expect top results from Malin Baryard-Johnsson, Amanda Landeblad, Peder Fredricson, Rolf-Göran Bengtsson, and longtime world number one Henrik von Eckermann.
LED BY newly-crowned individual Olympic champion Christian Kukuk, Otto Becker’s German team includes Jörne Sprehe, Andre Thieme, Jana Wargers and Richard Vogel.
And the Swiss are also strong with Martin Fuchs, reigning individual European champion Steve Guerdat, Alain Jufer, Pius Schwizer and Géraldine Straumann.
Brazil finished tied for fifth with France in the League of Nations rankings, and the team includes Pan American individual champion Stephan de Freitas Barcha along with Marlon Modolo Zanotelli, Yuri Mansur, Pedro Veniss and Luciana Christina Guimarães Lossio.
The French however may prove the ones to beat as chef d'equipe Henk Nooren has the team that won team bronze in Paris, Simon Delestre, Olivier Perreau and Julien Epaillard, along with Kevin Staut and Olivier Robert.
The USA and The Netherlands tied for seventh spot on the final series leaderboard.
The American team includes three of the riders that won the Nations Cup in Dublin last month, Lucy Davis Kennedy, Aaron Vale who also finished third in the Dublin Grand Prix and Spencer Smith who produced a brilliant double-clear in the Nations Cup.
Completing the US line-up are Alex Matz and Laura Kraut who was a member of America’s silver-medal-winning team in Paris., led by chef d'equipe Robert Ridland.
The Dutch finished fourth in Paris, and the Barcelona team includes Kim Emmen, who was impressive in the team competition at Versailles when double-clear with her lovely grey, Imagine, along with Maikel van der Vleuten on the brilliant Beauville Z, who won individual bronze at their second consecutive Olympic Games and Harrie Smolders .who had a single time fault in the team competition, and they are joined by Kevin Jochems and Lars Kersten.
The Grand Prix in Friday and the Nations Cup Final is Sunday.
The League of Nations will be live streamed on ClipMyHorseTV.
