How to qualify for equestrian jumping at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained

Jumping will be one of the highlights of the equestrian competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Discover what athletes need to do during the two-year qualification period to have the chance of competing at the prestigious Chateau de Versailles.

Equality is one of the principles of equestrian - a unique Olympic sport in which men and women compete for the same medals in the same events.

And Paris 2024 will be no exception. Once, again there will be three equestrian disciplines - dressage, jumping and eventing. And each of them is unique, including within the qualification process.

Jumping is a particularly spectacular event as it requires physical ability and excellent technique to complete the course in the allowed time without knocking down the obstacles.

The suspense this event imbues is as breathtaking as the venue that will host it during the next Olympic Games - the Chateau de Versailles.

But don’t jump to any conclusions too early. Before Paris 2024 there is a two-year qualification process that you can find out about below.

How many athletes will compete in equestrian jumping at Paris 2024?

There will be two medal events for jumping at Paris 2024: the individual and team competitions. A maximum of 75 athletes, one per NOC, will take part in the individual competition and 20 teams composed of three athletes in the team competition.

All of them will fight for the medals at the Chateau de Versailles.

To be eligible for the competition, athletes must be born on or before 31 December 2006 (no younger than 18 years of age in the year that the Olympic Games take place), while all horses participating in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 must be born on or before 31 December 2016 (no younger than eight years of age in the year that the Olympic Games take place).

What is the equestrian jumping qualification pathway to Paris 2024?

Team qualification process

For the team qualification, three individual quota places have been given to France as the host nation of Paris 2024. A total of 19 other team quotas will be allocated based on the team rankings at designated events being held between August 2022 and the end of the 2023 season, according to the following distribution:

Five quotas (15 athlete-horse pairs) to the five highest-ranked teams, excluding the host nation team, from the 2022 FEI Jumping World Championships.

One quota (three pairs) to the highest-ranked team, excluding teams already qualified, according to the final classification of the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final 2022.

Three quotas (nine pairs) to the three highest-ranked teams, excluding teams already qualified, from the 2023 FEI Jumping European Championship from FEI Olympic Groups A and/or B.

Two quotas (six pairs) to the two highest-ranked teams, excluding teams already qualified, from a Group C 2023 FEI Designated Olympic Qualification Event.

Three quotas (nine pairs) to the three highest-ranked teams, excluding teams already qualified, from FEI Olympic Groups D and/or E at the 2023 Pan American Games.

Two quotas (six pairs) to the two highest-ranked teams, excluding teams already qualified, from the Olympic Groups F at a 2023 Group F FEI Designated Olympic Qualification Event.

Two quotas (six pairs) to the two highest-ranked teams, excluding teams already qualified, from the Olympic Groups G at a 2023 Group G FEI Designated Olympic Qualification Event.

One quota (three pairs) to the highest-ranked team, excluding teams already qualified, according to the final classification of the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final 2023

Individual qualification process

The last 15 tickets to Paris 2024 will be allocated via the individual qualification process. An NOC can qualify a maximum of one individual place and only NOCs that haven't accepted a team quota are eligible to obtain an individual one.

The quotas are allocated as follows:

14 quotas (14 athlete-horse pairs) through the FEI Olympic Ranking (allocation through FEI Olympic Groups) and through FEI Olympic Group Qualification Event and FEI Olympic Ranking.

And one quota through the FEI Olympic Ranking (allocation through overall ranking).

Ten quotas - Allocation through FEI Olympic Groups (FEI Olympic Ranking)

The two highest-ranked pairs (one athlete and one horse) in the FEI Jumping Olympic Ranking from each of the five groups mentioned below will qualify one individual quota place each for their NOC:

A - North Western Europe

B - South Western Europe

C - Central & Eastern Europe / Central Asia

F - Africa & Middle East

G - South East Asia, Oceania

Four quotas - Allocation through FEI Olympic Group Qualification Event and FEI Olympic Ranking

The three highest-ranked individual athletes from Olympic Groups D and/or E, with a maximum of one per NOC, from the overall individual classification at the 2023 Pan American Games will qualify one individual quota place each for their NOC.

And the highest ranked athlete from the FEI Olympic Ranking for Olympic Groups D and E combined, will qualify one individual quota place for his NOC.

Groups D and E refer to:

D - North America

E - Central and South America

*Unless one or two individual quota places from that FEI Olympic Group has already been allocated to an NOC/NOCs from that FEI Olympic Group due to their withdrawal of a qualified team. In that case, there will be a reallocation of unused qualification places process.

One quota - Allocation through overall ranking (FEI Olympic Ranking)

The NOC of the highest-ranked Athlete from the overall FEI Olympic Ranking - Jumping, excluding NOCs qualified above.

What is the Paris 2024 equestrian jumping competition format and schedule?

In Paris 2024, the competition format and the number of athletes will be the same as in Tokyo 2020. In jumping, two sets of medals will be awarded in two Open events: the individual and team competition.

In the individual event, 75 athlete-horse pairs, a maximum of one per NOC, will take part in the qualification round. Each pair has a certain amount of time to complete a course where the obstacles and difficulties have been set. If an obstacle falls or the time limit is exceeded, penalty points will be added. The lower the score, the better. The 30 best pairs from the qualification round advance to the final.

In the final. all scores are reset to zero, and the athlete-horse pair with the lowest score at the end of the final wins the gold medal.

In the team event, 20 teams composed of three athlete-horse pairs will compete. The scores of each athlete-horse pair are added together, using the same principle as the individual event to calculate the total points. The top 10 advance to the final, where all the scores are reset to zero and the podium places are decided.

At Paris 2024, the equestrian competition will take place from 27 July to 6 August at the Chateau de Versailles.

source: olympics.com