Germany wins the Longines EEF Series Semi-Final in Budapest

Budapest winners Photo: CSIO Budapest / lovasfoto.hu - Krisztina Hajdu

There were plenty of surprises at the Budapest CSI3* W held at the National Riding Hall hosting the second semi-final of the Longines EEF Nations Cup Series over course built by chef de piste Gerard Lachat.

Following Deauville, the Longines EEF Nations Cup Budapest was the decisive event for assigning the last five spots available in the Warsaw LES Final, spots won by Germany, Switzerland, Austria, The Netherlands and Hungary.

Led by chef d’équipe David Will, Germany won today with a total of eight faults - Marcel Marschall riding Coolio (4/8), Sven Schlüsselburg on Bud Spencer (0/0), 24-year-old Sophie Hinners on Million Dollar (0/4) and Jörne Sprehe with Hot Easy (0/4) – repeating a win achieved just two days ago in the Aachen CHIO Nations Cup.

After a first impeccable round with a total of zero faults, in the second round, also thanks to a double clear by Sven Schlüsselburg and his powerful grey, Germany managed to hold its lead and beat both Switzerland (12 faults) and Austria (20 faults).
The other teams competing fought for fourth and fifth place, which meant qualifying for Warsaw. The Netherlands and the Hungarian hosts managed to both finish on 24 faults and were ranked according to time.

For the Dutch team the decisive round came from expert rider Wout-Jan van der Schans on A S Bombay, allowing the ‘Orange’ team to finish ahead of Italy (27 faults).
After a first round best forgotten, the clear rounds ridden in the second one by Massimo Grossato on D Mark and Piergiorgio Bucci on Diem J&F Champblanc were not enough for Italy to recover one position in the ranking.

Having won the Longines EEF Nations Cup Series Final last year, this year Italy will therefore not be competing in Poland to defend the title won in 2021.

The teams competing in the Warsaw 2022 Final in September will be Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland as well as Poland that will compete as the 11th team since it is the host nation.
 
Starting list and results on Longines Timing - click here
Official Show site - click here
Complete Longines EEF Series qualifier points table - download here (at the bottom of the page)

 

Quotes

David Will, chef d’equipe Germany
“I came here with an excellent team and excellent riders too and I am really happy. They made my job easy”.
 
Marcel Marschall: “I am delighted to be on this fantastic team and I had some really good team mates to help me out!”

Sven Schlüsselburg : “I was very concentrated in the warm up and am riding an amazing horse, it’s been a good day and I feel really lucky”.

Sophie Hinners : “Compared to Bratislava, I would say it was very different and the jumps came much faster. I feel very honoured to be part of this team again.”

Jörne Sprehe: “I knew that even if I had one down we would have won, so when there was just one fence left I was elated.”
 
Gerard Lachat chef de piste
“I was surprised by the quality of the riders competing, perhaps not at the very top level but certainly excellent ones. It was a class that gave then all a chance to gain experience over a course built for a semi-final."

 

Longines EEF Series 2022 - Results
 
Mannheim (GER)
1° - Switzerland
2° - Germany
3° - Sweden
 
Aalborg (DEN)
1° - France
2° - Japan
3° - Denmark
 
Bratislava (SVK)
1° - Germany
2° - Ireland
3° - Switzerland
 
Lisbon (POR)
1° - Ireland
2° - France
3° - Spain
 
Madrid (ESP)
1° - Spain
2° - Belgium
3° - Ireland
 
Athens (GRE)
1° - Italy
2° - Greece
3° - Romania
 
Drammen (NOR)
1° - Brazil
2° - Ireland
3° - Belgium
 
Gorla (ITA)
1° - Great Britain
2° - France
3° - Switzerland

 

Deauville Semi-Final (FRA)
1° - Belgium (after barrage)
2° - Spain (after barrage)
3° - Ireland (after barrage)

Budapest Semi-Final (HUN)
1° - Germany
2° - Switzerland
3° - Austria

LES - Longines EEF Series 2022 - Next stages
8-11 September    Warsaw (POL) - LES Final

 

LONGINES EEF SERIES
Longines EEF Series is a show jumping Nations Cup series created by the European Equestrian Federation that has replaced the FEI Nations Cup Europe Division 2. Launched in 2020, but then postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was held with a reduced calendar last year once again due to restrictions in place for the containment of the Covid-pandemic. The series aims to support European nations in developing their horses and riders in high-level competition. The series promotes the participation of younger developing talents by requiring at least one member of the team to be under 25 years of age.

The Longines EEF Series is subdivided into four European regional areas - north - south - centre and west - including the 42 National Federations that are part of the FEI’s EEF Group: 

Region South (ALB, BIH, BUL, CYP, GRE, ITA, MKD, MLT, ROU, SMR, SRB, TUR, UKR)

Region Central (AUT, CRO, CZE, GER, HUN, LIE, SLO, SUI, SVK)

Region North (DEN, EST, FIN, ISL, ISR, LAT, LTU, NOR, POL, SWE)

Region West (AND, BEL, ESP, FRA, GBR, IRL, LUX, MON, NED, POR)

The Longines EEF Series involves two qualifiers at CSIO3* for each region, allowing the five best teams to qualify for the two semi-finals held this year in Deauville and Budapest. As in 2021, the final will be held in September at the Warsaw CSIO4* and the winner will be promoted to the 2023 Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Division 1. The 2021 Series was won by Italy.

Read more: https://www.euroequestrian.eu/en/Events/Longines-EEF-Series.html sport.
 

EUROPEAN EQUESTRIAN FEDERATION
Founded in 2009, the European Equestrian Federation (EEF) is the representative body for the European based National equestrian Federations. Working closely with the Federation Internationale Equestre (FEI) and the National Federations, the EEF works to maximize the potential and development of equestrianism throughout the continent. The EEF is committed to promoting the sport equestrianism and its good practices, developing the sport across Europe, and providing leadership for a collective European voice in the sport.

EEF Public Relations
communications@eurorequestrian.eu -  www.euroequestrian.eu