One Month Out: Tracking Paris Eventing Teams and Individuals

Tim Price and Vitali represent New Zealand in the Tokyo Olympics. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.

We are just about a month away from the start of eventing competition in Paris, and while we’re still a few days ahead of the deadline for Definite Entries to be sent in, we thought it would be a good time to catch you up on what we know so far.

Eventing competition in the Olympics has evolved over time. In 2021, the year of the postponed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, a new team format was introduced with a total of three riders on a team along with a Traveling Reserve that does not compete unless substituted. This meant the elimination of the four-person, one drop score format and allowed for the IOC to include a larger number of participating nations. The change and its associated scoring updates (teams are heavily penalized for substituting a reserve in during competition — more on this coming soon in our Scoring Guide) was met with mixed reviews, as most changes are, but the underscoring factor remains that it now has become that much more difficult to complete a team, much less medal at the Olympics.

The eventing quota in Paris is a total of 65 combinations, comprised of 16 three-pair teams (48 combinations) and 17 individual combinations. Each of the 16 teams are also given the option to send a Traveling Reserve, meaning we’ll see up to 81 horses arriving in Paris for eventing. However, not all teams will have enough riders to dip into for a Traveling Reserve, so the final tally will likely be a bit less than 81.

[Update, July 1] Nominated Entries for Paris have been published here, giving us a glimpse at the full list of potentials from nations that have not yet selected their final team. We expect to see more teams, including Australia and Canada, announced as soon as July 1, with others sprinkling in ahead of the Final Entries deadline on July 8.

Qualified Nations

Team Germany stamped their ticket to Paris at the 2022 FEI World Championships for Eventing in Italy. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The FEI has divided the world up into competition groups:

A – North Western Europe; B – South Western Europe C – Central & Eastern Europe; Central Asia D & E – North America, Central & South America F – Africa & Middle East G – South East Asia, Oceania

Teams had two primary chances to qualify, regardless of group: one via FEI World Championships and the other via the 2023 FEI Nations Cup. Qualifiers for each group were also designated for additional opportunities to secure a spot. As the host country, France automatically earned a spot for a team, meaning they did not need to qualify in any other way. (Note: If a team qualified and sent competitors to another qualifying event (i.e., the U.S., after qualifying with their silver medal finish at Pratoni in 2022, also sent a team to Pan Ams in 2023), the Olympic spot would go to the next highest placed team that did not already have a berth secured.)

The 16 teams were delegated as follows:

Host Country: France

Top 7 teams from FEI World Championships for Eventing (2022 – Pratoni del Vivaro): Germany, USA, New Zealand, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland

Top 2 as-yet-unqualified teams from FEI European Championships (2023 – Le Pin au Haras) – Groups A/B: Belgium, Netherlands

Top unqualified team from Group C FEI Designated Olympic Qualification Event (2023 – Babarowko): Poland

Top 2 unqualified teams from 2023 Pan American Games (Santiago) – Groups D/E: Canada, Brazil

Top 2 unqualified teams from Groups F/G FEI Designated Olympic Qualification Event (2023 – Millstreet) – Groups F/G: Australia, Japan (Japan were retroactively awarded this place after China’s disqualification)

Top unqualified team from 2023 FEI Nations Cup series for Eventing: Italy

In the event any of the above nations become unable to send a team, the Reserve nations are Spain, China, and Finland.

Individual Qualifications

Lea Siegl and DSP Fighting Line compete as individuals for Austria in Tokyo. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Through the acquisition of FEI World Ranking points, smaller federations can qualify for one of the 17 individual quota places. Nations that are sending a team are not eligible to send individuals. The quotas were determined based on the best four results per horse/rider combination during the qualification period of January 1 through December 31, 2023. The two top-ranked individuals in each FEI group referenced above could secure an individual quota spot, with a maximum of two berths available per country.

Countries that have qualified for their individual quota spots are:

• Austria
• China (2 spots)
• Czech Republic (2 spots)
• Denmark (2 spots)
• Ecuador (2 spots)
• Finland (2 spots)
• Hungary
• Morocco
• Portugal
• South Africa
• Spain (2 spots)

More information on qualifications can be found here.

FEI Paris 2024 Information Hub

Below, we’ll keep track of the teams and individuals that have been confirmed. This will continue to be a running list, so plan to check back periodically or on our homepage for the latest updates. The list will only include confirmed teams, with short- and long-lists linked at the bottom. Most of the individual spots will be updated once Definite Entries are filed. If we’ve missed a name, please tip us by emailing [email protected]. 

Team List (Alphabetical by Country – Rider | Horse | Owner): (* indicates Traveling Reserve pair)

BRAZIL 🇧🇷

*Note: The Traveling Reserve pair for Brazil will be chosen from the group below.

GREAT BRITAIN 🇬🇧

*Note: The Traveling Reserve pair for GB will be chosen from the group below.

IRELAND 🇮🇪

JAPAN 🇯🇵

NETHERLANDS 🇳🇱

NEW ZEALAND 🇳🇿

POLAND 🇵🇱

SWEDEN 🇸🇪

SWITZERLAND 🇨🇭

*Note: The Traveling Reserve pair for Switzerland will be chosen from the group below.

UNITED STATES 🇺🇸

CURRENT LONG- AND SHORT-LISTS

BRAZIL

FRANCE

GERMANY

ITALY

INDIVIDUAL List (Alphabetical by Country – Rider | Horse | Owner):

View more of EN’s coverage of the Paris Olympics here. We are pleased to bring you our Olympic coverage with support from Kentucky Performance Products.