Italians lead after the first stage of the Longines EEF Series

The Italian national team leads the classification after the first stage of the Longines EEF Nations Cup Series in Gorla Minore, Italy. The final of the series will take place on September 8 in Warsaw during the Warsaw Jumping CSIO4* at the Służewiec Racecourse.

The fourth edition of the Longines EEF Series once again kicked off in Gorla Minore, Italy. Eleven teams appeared at the start of the competition, five of which fought for valuable positions in the ranking. The competition in the Italian arena was a southern region event, so the EEF Series points were competed for by the Greeks, Italians, Turks, Ukrainians and Bulgarians, who won last year’s inaugural event. 

Representatives of Germany and Switzerland were excellent on the Italian arena. The athletes from both countries presented five faultless runs each and had four penalty points at the end of the second round. The order was therefore decided by a jump-off between Patrick Stühlmeyer and Barbara Schnieper. A fault made by a player from Germany meant that the Swiss team enjoyed victory in Gorla Minore. The podium was completed by the United Arab Emirates team. The players in the top three did not compete for positions in the EEF Series rankings. 

The first leader of this year’s classification is the Italian team, which finished the competition just behind the podium. The hosts accumulated 14 penalty points, competing as follows: Giacomo Casadei/Chagracon PS (4/8), Nico Lupino/Iniesta (4/0), Giampiero Garofalo/Hero (0/4) and Giulia Martinengo Marquet/Captain Morgan Weering Z (22/2). The Ukrainians were ranked second (21 penalty points), and the Greeks were third on the series’ podium (37 points). 

Each team has just begun writing its own story, but only one of these stories will become a legend. In the upcoming months, we will see a fascinating combination of teamwork and competition on the show jumping arena. Today’s qualifier showed that this year’s series will require incredible precision, focus and good strategy from the riders and their horses. The final of the series, held in September during the competition in Warsaw, will result in the winners joining the crème de la crème of the Longines EEF Series. I wish all the organizers success, favourable weather, a large audience and smiles on the faces of the competitors – said Dominik Nowacki, director of the Warsaw Jumping CSIO4*.

From Gorla Minore, the series will move to Mannheim, Germany, where the Central Region event will be held in early May. Seven more regional qualifiers will be happening until mid-June. The top five teams from each region will make it through to the semifinals in Deauville and Budapest. From there, we will welcome the 10 best teams in the Longines EEF Series Final, which will take place during Warsaw Jumping CSIO4* between 5-8 September.

Full results available HERE

Photo: Łukasz Kowalski