FEI press release by Alice Watson
Run across six continents, competition throughout the qualifying legs has been fierce, with athletes battling for points to secure qualification for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final staged in Basel, Switzerland in just three weeks’ time.
Forty-two athletes representing 23 countries will line up alongside 51 of their equine partners to decide who will be crowned the 2025 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Champion.
Defending Champion Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden has not only dominated the Longines World Rankings for 32 consecutive months, but successfully defended his FEI Jumping World Cup Final 2023 title and being crowned Champion once again in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 12 months ago with the aptly named King Edward. Von Eckermann returns this year in a bid to emulate the five athletes that have won this title three times apiece – Hugo Simon of Austria, Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum of Germany, Marcus Ehning of Germany, and Steve Guerdat of Switzerland. Von Eckermann returns once again but is without King Edward on this occasion. If he could claim victory in Basel, he would join Pessoa in becoming the only two athletes to have taken the title in three consecutive years.
Arab League – Middle East
Forty-seven athletes fought for three qualifying places in the Arab League – Middle East with 39 of those obtaining points over the ten qualifying legs. The three athletes that topped the Arab League – Middle East, fill the three qualifying spots on offer. London Olympic team bronze medallist for Saudi Arabia, Ramzy Al Duhami, topped the league and lines up in Basel alongside Kuwait’s Ali Al Khorafi and Paris Olympian Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi who delivered a crucial clear round to help UAE secure an impressive second place in the opening leg of the Longines League of Nations staged in Abu Dhabi last month. Al Marzooqi brings his Olympic and Longines League of Nations partner Enjoy De La Mure to Basel.
Arab League – North Africa
The Arab League – North Africa saw 34 athletes vie for two qualification places at the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final 2025. The League will be represented by Egypt’s Zain Shady Samir who qualified from the league as second sub as a result of the top two athletes, Marocco’s Sami Cherkaoui and Abdelkebir Ouaddar, electing not to contest the Final in Basel.
Central European League
The Central European League was hotly contested with 81 athletes competing in the Northern Sub-League, and 45 contesting the Southern equivalent. After completion of the two sub-leagues, athletes qualify to compete in the Central European League Final. From here, the top three placed athletes qualify to compete in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final. Ales Opatrny of Czechia, Vince Jarmy of Hungary and Andrea Herck of Romania made up the top three following the League Final and take up their qualifying spots in Basel next month.
Eurasian League
Twenty athletes fought for a qualifying place within the Eurasian League, and it was Kyrgyzstan’s Valeria Sokolova who secured the coveted qualification for Central Asia to contest her first Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final. Shalva Gachechiladze of Georgia topped the Eurasian League – Caucasus Caspian region, and also lines up in Basel.
Japan League
Takamichi Mashiyama topped the Japan League taking the sole qualifying spot and has confirmed his participation in Basel.
No Australian League representatives this year, but one for New Zealand
Two qualification spots are on offer in the Australian League. These were won by Billy Raymont and Samuel Overton. Neither athletes nor the league sub Gemma Creighton will compete in Basel, so the Australian League will not be represented at this year’s Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final.
The New Zealand League was closely contested with Julie Davey and Luke Dee, both amassing 63 points across the four qualifying legs, and Sophie Scott just one point behind on 62. With two wins to Dee’s one, Davey headed the league but elects not to travel to Europe for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final. With only one place on offer in the league, the qualifying spot passed down to Dee who has seized the opportunity to contest his first Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final.
North America League
In the North America League qualification places are allocated into regions. Seven places are available to East USA athletes, three to West USA, two to Canada and two to Mexico. With two wins across the North America League, World number two in the current Longines Rankings, Kent Farrington of the USA saw off 103 participating rivals to top the league’s standings. Farrington will not line up in Basel nor will fifth East USA placed McLain Ward. The absence of two of USA’s ‘big guns’ sees the East USA’s seven qualification places pass down the line, but only six of these places will be taken up in Basel. Finishing second, third and fourth for East USA, Kirsten Vanderveen, Alise Oken and Lillie Keenan have confirmed their participation in Basel. Having finished sixth, seventh and eighth in the league, Olympic and World gold medallist Laura Kraut, McKayla Langmeier and Katherine Dinan (the first sub for qualification through for East USA), join their compatriots in the Swiss city next month.
The three qualification spots allocated to West USA were won by Kaitlin Campbell, Karl Cook and Skylar Wireman. Cook and Wireman turned down their place in Basel, so will be replaced by the West USA’s first and second subs, Shawn Cassidy and Alessandra Volpi who head to the final alongside Campbell.
Erynn Ballard and Tiffany Foster secured the two qualification spots allocated to Canada via the North America League; however, neither athlete will compete in Basel. Similarly, Alejandro Mills and Miguel Maron Kahwagi earned the two spots available to Mexico but, like their Canadian counterparts, declined their places in Basel.
Consequently, neither Mexico nor Canada will be represented via the North America League at this year’s Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final.
Ireland’s Daniel Coyle, domiciled in North America and consequently registered to compete in the North America League, qualifies as an ‘Extra Athlete’ in the North America League (East USA). In order to qualify as an extra athlete, he was required to have obtained at least as many points as the last qualified East USA athlete. Coyle’s compatriots, Darragh Kenny and Shane Sweetnam, as well as Israel’s Daniel Bluman, were also eligible for qualification via the extra athlete system through the League, but have elected not to compete in Basel.
South African League
The South African League saw qualification for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final secured during the 2023/ 2024 season. Bronwyn Meredith Dos Santos topped the league for that period and takes her place at the Final in Basel next month.
South American – South League
The South American South League was another hotly contested affair, with three athletes finishing at the top of the leaderboard with 45 points apiece following seven legs that saw 64 athletes battle for just two coveted World Cup Final qualification spots. Split only by their highest placings across the league, it was Argentina’s Lucrecia Cesaroni who was declared the league winner with Vitor Dantas Medeiros de Carvalho of Brazil in second. Cesaroni will not take her place in Basel, so Dantas Medeiros de Carvalho will be the sole representative in Basel from the South American South League.
Western European League brings top athletes
The Western European League was the largest of the leagues with 187 athletes participating across 14 qualifying legs and104 of those gaining points within the league. Eighteen qualifying spots were on offer and competition to secure one of these was as fierce as ever. Kevin Staut of France headed the league early in the season, and maintained this position until the end. The Olympic team and European individual gold medallist would love to add ‘Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Champion’ to his already impressive resumé and heads to Basel in fine form. Hans-Dieter Dreher of Germany finished second in the league, despite not contesting the last three qualifying legs, and will hope to improve on his fifth place from the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final in Riyadh 12 months ago.
Belgium’s Pieter Devos impressed with a series of consistent performances aboard multiple horses across the qualifying legs which saw him secure the third qualifying spot for Basel’s Final. Having finished eighth in the 2024 edition of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final with the then just nine-year-old Casual DV Z, he has chosen to bring the exciting homebred mare once again to vie for the title with another year of experience and a string of impressive 5* 1.60m performances under their belts, they will be ones to watch in Basel.
Great Britain’s Robert Whitaker finished in fourth position in the league and bids to emulate his father John, winner of back-to-back Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™1:10 PM Finals in Dortmund, Germany 1990 and Gothenburg, Sweden 1991 with the great Milton. Robert takes his winning ride from Helsinki’s qualifying leg, Vermento, the stallion bred by his dual World Cup winning father. Max Kühner of Austria, Julien Epaillard of France and Gregory Wathelet of Belgium filled the next three positions in the standings, and line up again in Basel having finished in seventh, second and tenth positions respectively in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final in Riyadh in 2024.
The Netherlands’ Maikel van der Vleuten secured qualification when finishing eighth in the Western European League. He lines up in Basel with his dual Olympic Individual Bronze medallist Beauville Z N.O.P. Julien Anquetin of France finished ninth in the Western European League and also confirms his attendance in Basel.
Former Champions Martin Fuchs of Switzerland and Marcus Ehning of Germany qualified as 10th and 11th in the Western European League. Winner of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final 2022 in Leipzig, Germany with Chaplin and The Sinner, Fuchs, competing at a World Cup Final on home soil for the first time, will vie to join an illustrious list of athletes who have won multiple World Cup Finals. Ehning is one of those athletes, and belongs to an elite group of five athletes who have been crowned World Cup Champion three times. Ehning is the only one of these esteemed horsemen who lines up in Basel, thus bids to make history as the first athlete to take the coveted title for a fourth time.
Ehning’s compatriot, Sophie Hinners, makes her World Cup debut following an impressive first Longines FEI Jumping World Cup season in which she made history by becoming the first female athlete to win Verona’s qualifying leg. She finished in 12th position in the league and takes her place in the Final.
Triple Olympic gold medallist for Great Britain, Ben Maher, took 13th place in the league and heads to Basel hungry to add ‘World Cup Champion’ to his illustrious list of accolades. Germany’s Mario Stevens confirms his attendance in Basel having finished in 14th ahead of Willem Greve of the Netherlands who, somewhat unbelievably, makes his first Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final appearance.
Germany’s Richard Vogel stamped his authority on the league when winning both Lyon and Stuttgart’s qualifiers. He heads to Basel with his winning partner from both legs, the impressive United Touch S.
Determined to compete in front of a home crowd at his second Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final, Edouard Schmitz achieved his goal in securing his place by taking 17th place in the Western European League. Having finished in 18th position, his compatriot Olympic and European individual gold medallist Steve Guerdat, one of those five esteemed athletes that have been crowned World Cup Champion on three occasions, was set to line up once again and bid to write another chapter in Jumping history.
Unfortunately, a back injury requiring immediate surgery has seen Guerdat have to sit out this season’s Final. Kim Emmen of the Netherlands is the beneficiary of Guerdat’s misfortune on this occasion as she has been called up as sub and has confirmed her participation in what will be her first Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final next month.
Seven of the athletes that finished in the top ten at last year’s Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final in Riyadh return to battle for the title again in Basel. Six of the top ten athletes from the current Longines World Rankings and three former Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Champions are amongst the 42 athletes who are set to contest this year’s Final in Basel. A week of world-class sport is promised in Switzerland next month as the battle commences for one athlete to be crowned Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Champion and have their names permanently etched in history alongside Jumping royalty.
The action gets under way with the first competition of the 2025 Edition of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final on 03 April 2025, with the third and final competition being staged on 06 April 2025.
The Definite Entries list for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final can be found here.
