The unique terrain of Haras du Pin will host the European Championships this summer. Photo courtesy of Haras du Pin.
On Wednesday June 14, media and institutions gathered at the magnificent Haras National du Pin (Orne, Normandy) for a preview of what is sure to be the highlight of the summer eventing calendar. In the presence of Astier Nicolas, double Olympic medallist and member of the French team, Michel Asseray, French National Technical Director in charge of eventing, and Pierre Le Goupil, international course designer, the details of the event, in terms of both sport and entertainment, were outlined. It was also an exclusive opportunity to discover the infrastructures of the brand-new Pôle International des Sports Equestres (PISE), where some of the tests will be held.
Four new sub-irrigated arenas, natural grandstands, spacious and functional permanent stables, and a multi-faceted reception building: the PISE offers new perspectives for competitors and spectators alike. The main arena will host the opening ceremony on Wednesday August 9, followed by the dressage test on Thursday August 10 and Friday August 11, before giving way to the breeding competitions organized by Cheval Normandie, the association gathering all the sport horse breeders of Normandy. The action then moves to the Parc du Hautbois on Saturday for the crucial and always spectacular cross-country test, before finishing on Sunday on the iconic Château arena with the ultimate show-jumping test…and the reveal of the new European champions!
Thus, the continent’s best combinations will come to compete for medals but also, for some nations, a spot at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024. As a major event of the 2023 season, the FEI Eventing European Championships is for many the main goal of the season. With a core group of twenty people (plus up to 300 volunteers during the competition), everything is currently being put in place by the Ustica association, organizer of the event at the Haras National du Pin, to offer all teams and spectators the best possible conditions to guarantee great sport and a great show.
Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza at Haras du Pin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Guillame Blanc will act as event director, as he has been since 2017 on the ‘Grand Complet’ (CCIO4*-S FEI Eventing Nations Cup), within the organizing association Ustica, as well as acting as technical delegate for numerous international competitions.
“After so many years of competition, you grow up,” he smiles. “When you look back and see where we started from 27 years ago with our first competition, it’s really satisfying. It’s also a challenge, especially for an organization like ours, which is entirely associative. All our projects are progressing well. We’re finalizing with Argentan Intercom and the SNCF to make it easier for spectators to get here. Everything is falling into place. We have also established several collaborations with various research and health organizations to ensure maximum safety for the horses’ well-being.
“This is very important to us. The new infrastructures built on the site will enable us to move up another level. This is a major challenge. With the Paris Olympics on the horizon, it will also enable us to repeat protocols with very high-level horses.”
These words were echoed by the French team rider Olympic team champion and individual runner-up at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Astier Nicolas: “The unique site of the Haras du Pin offers us an excellent opportunity to develop our horses on a cross-country course of the highest level. Of course we enjoy competing abroad, but we’re even more excited here in France, where we’ll have home advantage before the Olympic Games next year.”
The cross-country course, the highlight of the four days of competition on Saturday August 12, is the focus of much attention. While the course remains a “secret” right up to the last moment, course designer Pierre Le Goupil’s plans have been drawn up.
“The course is mapped out and the obstacles are all in my head,” he says. “We’ve planned a big loop of over 4000m in the grasslands of the Haras du Pin, an area very different from the Parc du Haut-Bois, where the start and finish will take place. Efforts will be progressive but even, with decreasing difficulty at the end. The terrain is never flat, and riders will need to keep their horses’ energy to tackle the course’s topography, which is comparable to that of the 2014 World Equestrian Games. The course has been designed for some forty obstacles, spread over 5800m, to be cleared in around ten minutes. Discovery will be limited, as all the nations are used to coming to this terrain on the occasion of the Grand Complet. Riders know every inch of it. We have a superb setting and a perfectly adapted course with plenty of space and gradients. Normandy is a beautiful place.”
With a year to go until the Olympic trials (July 27-29 for eventing) in the gardens of the Château de Versailles, only seven European nations have already qualified: France (as host country), Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the USA, and New Zealand at the World Championships in Pratoni last year; Poland in a group C qualifier at Baborowko; and Australia and China in a qualifier at Millstreet. The FEI Eventing European Championships in Le Pin-au-Haras will distribute two new tickets for countries that have not yet qualified. The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Belgium, Italy and Austria are candidates for these two tickets — the penultimate chance to see Versailles (a final ticket will be awarded at the end of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup circuit).
“There’s qualification for some nations, with inevitably some happy but also some disappointed ones at the end of the competition, but we can be sure that the nations will also want to show their muscles a year before the Olympic Games,” predicts the director. It promises to be one hell of a good fight — and a hell of a show, with the Tricolores, on the podium at the last two Olympic Games (gold in 2016, bronze in 2021), hoping to win their first ever European team title in front of their home fans.
