Susie Berry and Clever Trick. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
And so it begins! Before we even get to the excitement of the first horse inspection at the FEI European Eventing Championships (and look, no matter what you say, it is exciting to see what sort of mad kit each nation rocks up in – here’s looking at you, Austria, you stylish Alpine daredevils), we get our first bit of crucial intel: that is, the draw of the nations, which has just concluded in the central hub of Haras du Pin’s beautiful venue.
This time, it’ll be Ireland who take pathfinder duties, followed by Belgium, who are battling for an Olympic qualification this week and will be a real squad to watch. Then, in third position, it’s Germany — one of the great threats for gold, coming, as they do, off a team victory at last year’s World Championships — and in fourth, the Netherlands, also on the hunt for a Paris ticket. In fifth, it’ll be Italy, the third of our four teams who are looking to qualify, and in sixth, it’s Switzerland, who secured that ticket at Pratoni. Sweden will come forward in seventh, followed by Poland — another team who’ve already punched their ticket to Paris in a group qualifier — in eighth. Our Danish individual, Hanne Wind Ramsgaard, comes forward in ninth; home nation France are tenth, and Great Britain, the dominant force looking to defend their title, are in eleventh. Finally, it’ll be Austria, our last team seeking one of those two Olympic berths, but with just three riders this week they’ll be grateful for the late draw to gain valuable intel from other competitors on Saturday.
Drawn Order by Nation:
1. Ireland
2. Belgium
3. Germany
4. Netherlands
5. Italy
6. Switzerland
7. Sweden
8. Poland
9. Denmark
10. France
11. Great Britain
12. Austria
We’re due to head into the first horse inspection momentarily, so keep it locked onto EN for all the updates, news and views from the day’s happenings. Until then: Go Eventing!
EN’s coverage of the FEI European Championships for Eventing is brought to you with support from Kentucky Performance Products.
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