Jumping in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower

In the winter, two big Jumping rendezvous were followed by an even larger international competition in the spring. After the Grand Slam Longines Masters kick-off in December and the exclusive five-star Saut Hermès at the city’s Grand Palais, Paris hosted – not for the first time – the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final and FEI Dressage Final in April. 

Now, on the first weekend of July in the heart of the capital on the Champs de Mars, another Paris edition of the Longines Global Champions Tour will take place. The Parisian stage of the LGCT has been held near the Seine since 2014 and is extremely popular, and not only for equestrian sports fans. Indeed, France is one of the countries of the Old Continent in which equestrianism has achieved a particularly high standard and is an important element of the country’s cultural heritage. 

In fact, France is the only country that organizes as many as four of the sixteen LGCT competitions (the other stages of the circuit are held at venues spanning three continents). After the competition on the French Riviera in St.Tropez and Cannes comes Paris, and a week later there will be another competition with the famous backdrop of the Grand Stables in Chantilly. 

But this week, the tenth leg of this year’s circuit will be held next to the iconic landmark in the French capital, whose leg of the CSI 5* series has attracted the current leader and two-time victor of the Tour, Australian Edwina Tops-Alexander. The two British riders on her heels are also among the entries: Ben Maher and Scott Brash. All three have already won an LGCT Grand Prix this year and thus secured a place in the December Super Grand Prix in Prague. 

Those top-ranked riders do not intend to make life easy for last year’s LGCT winner, currently No.4 in the Tour ranking but No.1 in the FEI global ranking, Dutchman Harrie Smolders, who is coming to Paris with his top horses: Don VHP Z and Zinius. Among the other favorites, one can mention Belgian Gregory Wathelet, German Marcus Ehning, Irishman Bertram Allen, Italian Alberto Zorzi, Swede Henrik von Eckermann, American Elizabeth Madden and legends of this sport such as Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum and Great Britain’s Michael Whitaker.

The hosts, current Team Olympic champions from Rio, will have a group of ten athletes at the 5* level in the French capital, including Kevin Staut, Simon Delestre, Julien Epaillard, Roger Yves Bost and, returning to the top level, Penelope Leprevost. The competition starts on Thursday with the Global Champions League.