Important numbers and names for the 2024 edition of Jumping Verona – once again ready this year to ensure three days of great entertainment for enthusiasts.
Riders from 20 countries are competing in CSI5*-W event- the fourth leg of the Longines FEI Show Jumping World Cup™ (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Principality of Monaco, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, Turkey, and – obviously – Italy) with some of ‘top riders’ of the moment.
The group of international riders taking part include four of the top ten in the Longines FEI world ranking. This line-up includes the number two, Swiss rider Steve Guerdat, followed by number three, Briton Ben Maher, number seven and number nine in the world, respectively Austrian Max Kuhner and Frenchman Simon Delestre.
Steve Guerdat, third in the World Cup Grand Prix in Helsinki last Sunday, has high hopes to reach his sixteenth World Cup final, which he has already won three times: in 2015, 2016 and 2019.
Ben Maher turns up at Fieracavalli as the reigning champion. He won the Grand Prix in Verona in 2023, beating Guerdat in a jump-off, while Max Kühner, after winning the Longines Global Champions Tour, is determined to continue his series of good performances in 2024 also in the World Cup. Simon Delestre is looking for an historic hat-trick. He is a regular competitor in the Verona leg of the World Cup which he won in 2015 and 2021, yet also at Fieracavalli itself, where he began competing while still very young in pony categories.
These aces are joined by another rider in the higher echelons of the world ranking: Frenchman Kevin Staut (no. 14), again a protagonist last Sunday in the Longines Jumping FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix in Helsinki taking second place, as well as the inaugural leg in Oslo, also coming second but in the five-star Grand Prix.
The top 50 in the world ranking especially include Swede Peter Fredericson (no. 23) who after finishing third in the 2018/2019 and 2023/2024 Longines Jumping FEI World Cup™ Finals, is hunting for his third appearance, Frenchman Julien Anquetin (no. 36), also recently on target in a top-level Grand Prix in Birmingham, Belgians Gilles Thomas (no. 37) champion of Belgium for two consecutive years, and Jerome Guery (no. 43), as well as Swiss rider Pius Schwizer (no. 40).
Not to mention Briton Scott Brash (no. 44), winner of the Longines Jumping FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix in 2019, and another young Frenchman, Jeanne Sadran (no. 49), second in the Under 25s ranking yet capable of holding her own against many top-level riders.
Other competitors to keep an eye on include Spanish rider Eduardo Alvarez Aznar, the recent winner of the Grand Prix final of the Longines Global Champions Tour in Rabat, German Maximilian Weishaupt who two weeks ago won one of the Gorla Minore Autumn Tour Grand Prix, Brazilian Marlon Modolo Zanotelli and two multi-medal-winning veterans of the calibre of Swede Rolf Goran Bengtsson and German Marcus Ehning – who has 21 Longines Jumping FEI World Cup™ Finals under his belt, three of which he won.
Last but not least, Jumping Verona this year will welcome several highly motivated lady riders led by Australian Edwina Tops-Alexander. Yet fans should also look out for Swede Petronella Andersson, Swiss rider Jane Richard, Turkish competitor Alessia Arrigo Zazadze, the 21 year-old Jennifer Hochstaedter from Liechtenstein, and Geraldine Straumann, 20 years old from Switzerland and the youngest among the sixty athletes registered for the CSI5*-W at Jumping Verona.
Ph. JV/Stefano Grasso
