Few days left to the final of the European Nations Cup Series

The final of the European Nations Cup Series, the Grand Prix and 9 other interesting international competitions - all those will make the CSIO4* Warsaw Jumping 2021 a very attractive event, in which the total prize pool is close to 1 900 000 PLN.

From 22nd to 25th July the Służewiec Racecourse will host the best show jumping athletes from all over Europe. The most important competition,  the final of the EEF Series,  will take place on Sunday in the Nations Cup.

It has been taking place since April, and features 11 teams in total. The principles behind the team-based two-round Nations Cup boast more than a century of tradition, and they attract crowds of equestrian fans all over the world.  It is worth adding that under the Nations Cup concept and its regulations, each country can only organize one CSIO competition per year. Poland is an exception this year for the FEI has awarded our country with two prestigious Nations Cup contests.

The first of them, within the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup, took place in June in Sopot. The other one will take place during Warsaw Jumping as the final of the newly created EEF Series, dedicated only for European countries. With a considerable prize pool of 200,000 euro and the strongest Polish riders, who stand a good chance of winning, it is clear that the Sunday of 25th July will be truly exciting.

The remaining days of Warsaw Jumping will be great as well. Every day from Thursday to Saturday will feature three individual competitions, four of which will count towards the world ranking. On Thursday this will be the 150 cm class, for points and time (prize pool of 25,000 euro), which is also a qualifier for the Grand Prix. The most important individual competition is scheduled for Friday afternoon. The prize pool there totals 95,000 euro and the obstacles will be up to 160 cm high (this means that the winner will receive not only a financial bonus but also 100 points for the world ranking).

At the same time these competitions will be a chance for pairs to fight for the minimum requirements to take part in the 2021 European Championships and the 2022 World Championships. Saturday will see two competitions for LR points for the riders and fans. The first of them is a very spectacular speed competition of 145 cm (prize pool of 25,000 euro), whilst the other one is a classic thrilling jump-off competition with obstacles of 150 cm (prize pool of 30,000 euro).

The agenda is completed by a young horse competition. This will be a competition of 7 and 8 year old mounts, meaning those that will soon be ready to compete at the highest level.

At the starting line of
the LONGINES EEF Series Final in Warsaw

Now that the Nation's Cup competition held in Budapest last Friday is over, we know all the teams that will take part in the Longines EEF Series final in Warsaw on 25th July. Also today we learned who will represent Poland in the final.

The Germans lined up a fairly young but strong team in Hungary's capital. This resulted in a great final result - 0 penalty points. Everyone contributed to the success. Sophie Hinners riding Vittorio and the current individual European Young Riders Champion Philipp Schulze Topphoff riding Concordess NRW scored double zeroes. Cedric Wolf, double gold medalist of the 2018 European Junior Championships and bronze medalist of this event in the young rider category from 2019 riding DSP Chicitito, had a score of 0/4, and the most experienced of this group, 30-year-old Jana Wargers riding Limbridge 4/0.

"I am delighted and unbelievably proud of this team, they all delivered a top performance today. They are quite young, but all talented, so that made my job easy. We planned all this before with Otto Becker, who is preparing for Tokyo, and our plan was that this team should stay together. Wolfgang Puschak completes the team and we are really looking forward to Warsaw," said Chef d'Equipe Ralf Runge after the victory.

The following teams advanced to the finals in Warsaw: Italy, Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic. What's interesting, amongst the five here are four teams from the central group and only one - Italy - from the southern group, which was the only one to pass all the subsequent qualifiers (during the CSIO in Athens and Bojouristhe).

Let’s not forget that due to pandemic constraints, the schedule of EEF Series events was significantly adjusted in the spring of 2021. The Western Group competed in only one Nations Cup in Peelbergen. Ireland won the first weekend in June in the Netherlands, with the other two positions giving promotion to the final being taken by Britain and Spain. Following rule changes for the two final spots from the northern group at the Nations Cup, it was the hosts who took the win a week later in Uggerhalne, Denmark. Since the second and third places went to teams from the western group - Belgium and Great Britain, the right to participate in the finals in Warsaw went to Norway, who finished this Nations Cup in fourth. The team from Lithuania has shown how exciting and motivating for the riders team competitions in show jumping can be. A few years ago, this small country could not assemble a team for the start in the Nations Cup. This season they managed to create a team consisting of young riders, which was complemented by a very experienced Andrius Petrovas, who is also the head of the team. In Denmark, the Lithuanians were one step away from making a surprise, because their place in the Warsaw final was lost to the Danes only by the difference in the total time - which was less than a second.

Polish riders also competed in the northern group. Because due to changes in the calendar the only competition in this group was postponed a week before the CSIO5* in Sopot, we could not send our strongest line-up to Denmark, which resulted in a weaker result. However, since we are the hosts of the finals, our team can take part in it despite not having qualified.

Teams qualified for the Longines EEF Series - CSIO4* Warsaw 22-25 July 2021.

Western Group: Ireland, Great Britain, Spain

Northern group: Denmark, Norway

Central Group: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic

South Group: Italy

Host: Poland

We already know the line-up of the 11 teams that will take part in the finals of the European Nations Cup EEF Series in Warsaw. Let's recall that after the qualifiers, which took place all over Europe since April, the following teams earned their place in the team competition during Warsaw Jumping: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain and Switzerland. The Polish team will participate as the host.

Italy looks to be the strongest team. The team will be represented, amongst others, by two very experienced riders: European team vice-champion from 2009 Piergiorgio Bucci and Giulia Martinengo Marquet. Both of them hold numerous victories in Grand Prix competitions and, more importantly, many successes in Nations Cups contests. In recent years, Bucci has contributed to the Italian team's victories in Rome, Dublin and Falsterbo thanks to his clear rides. Martinengo Marquet was a member of the winning team at Piazza di Siena in 2018.

When it comes to the Irish team, Alexander Butler, who won the CSI3*Grand Prix in Villamoura in 2019, and less than a month ago shared the first place in an LR qualifying event with Jarosław Skrzyczynski at the CSIO5* in Sopot, will be their strongest asset. At CSIO in Kronenberg, with a double zero ride with Athene, he contributed to the promotion of Ireland to the final of the EEF Series.

Georgia Tame, the team silver medalist at the 2018 European Young Riders Championships, who has won world ranked competitions at five-star events in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the last three years, seems to be the leader of the British team. William Whitaker, a competitor at the World Championships in Tryon, also can support this team with his experience.

One of the biggest stars of the Warsaw event will be Niklaus Schurtenberger, a team bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in Beijing, who represents Switzerland. He demonstrated excellent form a month ago, winning the CSI Grand Prix in Lier.

The Spanish team will have, amongst others, Manuel Fernandez Saro, the participant of the last Olympic Games and World Championship. He came second in the four-star Grand Prix event in St Tropez two weeks ago.

As previously declared, Germany put up a young team that won the semi-final of the EEF Series in Budapest. As a reminder, this team will consist of the current individual European champion of young riders Philipp Schulze Topphoff, Cedric Wolf, double gold medalist of the European junior championships of 2018 and bronze medalist of this event in the category of young riders of 2019, Jana Wargers and Sophie Hinners.

The Austrians have their strongest  line-up, out of whom Christoph Obernauer has recently been achieving the best results. In June, he came second in the Grand Prix of the 4-star 4Foulee competition in Poznań riding Kleons Cocario.  The only one missing from the Danish team is Andreas Schou, who is preparing for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Polish team will consist of very experienced Polish champions of the last few years, competitors who are the only Poles to have won four-star Grand Prix competitions including Wojciech Wojcianiec and Jarosław Skrzyczyński. Alongside them, we will see Przemysław Konopacki and Natalia Czernik who will be able to gain experience in the team competition. For them it will be just the third and second performance in the Nations Cup in their careers, respectively. Since the EEF rules stipulate that the fifth member of the team must be a U25 competitor, Aleksandra Kierznowska, who has already won six competitions included in the world ranking, will take this place for the white and red.

Press Release