Christian Ahlmann heads Longines Rankings for third month running

The German, who is also currently sitting in third place in the Longines Global Champions Tour which returns for the final leg of the 2016 season next month in Doha, remains on top but France’s Simon Delestre is hot on his heels.

Delestre has moved up to second spot in the rankings, switching places with USA’s Kent Farrington, and he has narrowed the gap between them to only 46 points.

Below them, USA’s McLain Ward and Canada’s Eric Lamaze remain in fourth and fifth place respectively, whilst Germany’s Daniel Deusser and France’s Penelope Leprevost change places to be sixth and seventh this month.

There is no move for another French rider, Kevin Staut, who remains at eight, while Germany’s Marcus Ehning is now in ninth, moving up two places and into the top ten from eleventh last month.

Great Britain’s Scott Brash moves down one place to this month’s number ten as a result, which sees Sweden’s Rolf-Göran Bengtsson slip out of the Top 10 for October and down four places to 14. He replaces Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat who moves up three places from 14 last month to now occupy 11.

Ludger Beerbaum, who ended his illustrious international duty as part of Germany’s FEI Nations Cup winning team in Barcelona in September, moves up six places from 23 to 17, whilst one of the biggest movers in this month’s Longines Rankings is Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca who shoots up 17 places from 37 to 20.

Elsewhere in a relatively quiet month of movement in the Top 50 of the Longines Rankings, Dutch star Maikel Van der Vleuten moves up six places from 34 to 28, whilst USA’s Lauren Hough goes up five places from 39 to 34,

Ireland’s Darragh Kenny and Cian O’Connor have moved up too. Kenny, who won the Longines Cup of the City of Barcelona at the FEI Nations Cup Final, goes from 50 to 42 with O’Connor one place further back having gone up five places from 48 to 43.

Switzerland’s Pius Schwizer also moves up five places and enters the Top 50 by going up from last month’s 55, ahead of Spain’s Sergio Alvarez Moya, who moves up 19 places from 70 to 51.

Below him are two other big movers with The Netherland’s Jos Verlooy rising 13 places from 65 to 52 and Great Britain’s Michael Whitaker going up 18 places from 71 to 53. Another of Germany’s FEI Nations Cup winning team, Janne Friederike Meyer, also moves up from 77 to 66.

Sweden’s Douglas Lindelow, Switzerland’s Jane Richard Philips and USA’s Georgina Bloomberg have all broken back into the Top 100 and follow each other in the Rankings. Lindelow goes up 13 places from 100 to 87, Richard Philips moves some 28 places from 116 to 88, with Bloomberg going up 15 places from 89 to 104.

The biggest mover in September however goes to USA’s Leslie Burr-Howard who goes up 30 places from last month’s 129 to 99.

Longines FEI World Ranking Jumping List No. 189
Top 10 Rankings as at 30 September 2016

1. Christian Ahlmann (Germany) 3171 points
2. Simon Delestre (France) 3125
3. Kent Farrington (USA) 3020
4. McClain Ward (USA) 2949
5. Eric Lamaze (Canada) 2814
6. Daniel Duesser (Germany) 2786
7. Penelope Leprevost (France) 2718
8. Kevin Staut (France) 2610
9. Marcus Ehning (Germany) 2594
10. Scott Brash (Great Britain) 2525