Photo by Lorraine Jackson
Lexington, Kentucky and Samorin, Slovakia have been named official candidates to host the World Equestrian Games in 2022, the FEI announced today.
Neither venue is a stranger to WEG venue selection. Lexington, of course, hosted the 2010 WEG; the Samorin Equestrian Centre in Slovakia was under consideration for the 2018 WEG, with the Games ultimately being allocated to Tryon International Equestrian Center. FEI eventing will come to the venue next year, as Samorin has been approved to host a CCI3* on Sept. 7-10, 2017.
“We are very happy to have two such strong official candidates for the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2022,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said. “Both the Kentucky and Samorin venues have the infrastructure in place already to host the Games, which is one of the biggest events on the global sporting calendar.
“The last edition in Normandy two years ago attracted more than half a million spectators and a worldwide television audience of 350 million, delivering a significant economic impact to the French economy.
“There’s no doubt that these Games are a huge undertaking, but we believe both Samorin and Kentucky have the capability to host spectacular Games and we look forward to working with them through the further stages of the bid process over the next year.”
According to the FEI, both sites will be visited between January and May 2017, with a deadline of June 2017 for submission of the Candidates’ complete bid and signed host agreement. The Candidates will make formal presentations to the FEI Evaluation Commission in the third quarter of 2017, with the final FEI Bureau decision and allocation of the Games in November 2017.
[FEI announces Candidate Cities for FEI World Equestrian Games 2022]
