Guerdat signals intent for start of 2016/2017 Longines FEI World Cup Western European League in Oslo

Reigning champion, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat, runner-up Harrie Smolders from the Netherlands and Germany’s Daniel Deusser will all be competing and heading a star-studded line-up at the season’s opener from 13 to 16 October.

The Longines FEI World Cup Western European League for the 2016/2017 season will consist of 13 qualifying rounds, with nine of those legs taking place before the end of the year.

Following this weekend’s action in Oslo, the next qualifying legs in Helsinki, Finland and Lyon, France are slotted into the second half of October, before the action continues next month in the Italian city of Verona, Stuttgart in Germany and the Spanish capital, Madrid.

December sees further action in Spain with a new fixture at La Coruna ahead of the popular Christmas shows at London Olympia, Great Britain, and Mechelen in Belgium.

Competitors will enjoy a short break before the relentless pace of competition resumes in the German city of Leipzig and Zurich in Switzerland in January.

The final two legs – in Bordeaux, France and Gothenburg, Sweden, will be held in February and are again guaranteed to be tense affairs as riders clamour for qualifying points for the Final.

The Centurylink Centre in Omaha, Nebraska, USA will be the venue for 2016/2017 Final from 27 March to 2 April 2017.

However before then there are 109 qualifying events across fifteen leagues taking place across the globe, stretching from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South East and Central Asia and China, across North and South America, the Middle East and on to Caucasia and Central and Western Europe.

For this first engagement in the Western European League, the start list for Oslo includes world number two Simon Delestre from France along with his compatriots Penelope Leprevost and Kevin Staut from the gold-medal-winning team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Smolders brings his Olympic ride, Emerald, while team bronze medalists Deusser and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum are in a useful looking German line-out along with Marcus Ehning; the latter two being amongst the elite group of riders who have claimed the prestigious FEI World Cup title three times.

Guerdat, who will be chasing down his third title in a row, has signalled his intentions by bringing the horse with which he won his latest title – Corbinian –as the race to Omaha and the battle for the much-coveted FEI World Cup trophy and the €1.3m in prizemoney gets underway.

Longines FEI World Cup Jumping 2016/2017 – Western European League
Calendar of qualifying legs

Oslo, Norway 13 to 16 October 2016
Helsinki, Finland 20 to 23 October 2016
Lyon, France 26 to 30 October 2016
Verona, Italy 9 to 11 November 2016
Stuttgart, Germany 16 to 20 November 2016
Madrid, Spain 24 to 27 November 2016
La Coruña, Spain 9 to 11 December 2016
London (Olympia), Great Britain 13 to 19 December 2016
Mechelen, Belgium 26 to 30 December 2016
Leipzig, Germany 19 to 22 January 2017
Zürich, Switzerland 27 to 29 January 2017
Bordeaux, France 3 to 5 February 2017
Göteborg, Sweden 22 to 26 February 2017