ABU DHABI, UAE--Lucy Davis Kennedy, who rode on the silver medal team at Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, leads a young, all girl team that will compete at Abu Dhabi on Feb. 15, the opening leg of the League of Nations series.
The team includes Kaitlin Campbell, Taylor Kain and Skylar Wireman and will be led by Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland.
Campbell of Temecula, Calif., has been competing successfully at Thermal shows on Sun Warrior and Armentos,
Kain moved from Wellington ,Fla. to Netherlands a two years ago and has been competing successfully in Europe on Jirenze and Im Special.
Wireman of Bonsall, Calif., has competed well with Tornado and Crunch K.
The League series continues at Ocala, Fla., on March 23, at Rotterdam, Netherlands on June 21, and at St. Tropez, France on Sept. 21, after which the top eight teams from the 10 competing nations will go on to the Final in Barcelona, Spain on Oct. 5.
Ireland, France, USA, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden and Italy qualified to compete in the 2025 edition of the League of Nations as the top 10 ranked nations in the world.
These 10 qualified teams are joined in Abu Dhabi by the host nation, United Arab Emirates.
The series has four qualifying events, each with prize money of €700,000, and culminates with the final in Barcelona in October with €1,600,000 in prize money along with bonus prizes.
IRELAND'S Chef d’Equipe Michael Blake has named his team for Abu Dhabi as League of Nations newcomers Trevor Breen and Jason Foley, along with Denis Lynch and Michael Pender.
France's team includes Kevin Staut, Simon Delestre, Jeanne Sadran and Alexa Ferrer.
For Germany, the reining League of Nations Champions, Otto Becker has named Katrin Eckermann, Sophie Hinners, Jörne Sprehe and Maximilian Weishaupt.
For Great Britain, the Paris Olympic gold medal team, Di Lampard has named Tim Gredley, Joseph Stockdale, Donald Whitaker and Robert Murphy,
Belgium's Peter Weinberg has named Rik Hemeryck, Thibeau Spits, Jos Verlooy and Wilm Vermeir.
Young Chef d’Equipe Peter van der Waaij of Switzerland has selected Team gold medalist of the 2021 European Championship Bryan Balsiger along with Romain Duguet, Janika Sprunger and Edouard Schmitz.
Netherlands' team, under its new Chef d’Equipe Wout-Jan van der Schans, second placed in the League of Nations Final 2024, includes Kevin Jochems, Tani Joosten, Leopold van Asten and Jur Vrieling.
For Sweden Henrik Ankarcrona’s reigning World and European Champions' team includes Rolf-Göran Bengtsson, Angelie von Essen, Angelica Augustsson Zanotelli and Petronella Andersson.
Italy is making its first appearance in the League of Nations, and the team includes Piergiorgio Bucci, Emanuele Camilli, Giacomo Casadei and Giulia Martinengo Marquet.
Abdullah Mohd Al Marri, Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi, Abdullah Humaid Al Muhairi and Humaid Abdulla Khalifa Al Muhairi will represent the host nation UAE.
The League of Nations 2025 series will follow the same format as 2024, which differs slightly from that of traditional Nations Cups.
The competition has two rounds of jumping over the same course.
All teams send out four riders in round one with the best three scores counting for the team total.
The best eight teams return for round two, where they no longer have the luxury of a discard score as only three riders from each team may jump again, and every score counts.
After two rounds, the team with the least faults will be the winner.
In the event of a tie on penalties for first place after the second round, there will be a jump-off between the ttied nations with just one rider from each of those teams contesting the jump-off.
There will be no jump-off for any placings beyond this.
In the event of a tie for lower placings, the combined time of the three riders in the second round will determine the final standings.