To Riyadh from all around the World: Non-Western European League and Young Talent embracing Riyadh

The Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ season 2023/2024 is turning towards its conclusion.

Qualifying through eleven Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Leagues and sub-leagues, jumped all across the globe, the best of the best will meet for the season final in the Saudi capital from April 16 to 20, 2024. There are many good riders qualified from less known competitive leagues with top venues. On top of that we have some outstanding young talents that will take part in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final in Riyadh.

Let’s take a look at the North African sub-league. The top two riders are both from Egypt; Mouda Zeyada with 50 points and Abdelrahman Shousha with 36 points. Zeyada is already familiar with the Riyadh venue, having qualified for the final there. Shousha qualified in Cairo, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

In the Middle East sub league, Khaled Almobty from Saudi Arabia took the top position with 73 points. He won the qualifier for the World Cup Final in Al Ain. The 2010 Individual Champion of the Asian Games in Guangzhou, Ramzy Al Duhami from Saudi Arabia, followed with 53 points. In third place was Salim Ahmed Al Suwaidi with 51 points. He got his qualifications in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

In the Central European League – Northern Subleague, Sara Vingralkova from the Czech Republic took the lead with 69 points. Sara had an outstanding fourth place in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ in Amsterdam. The Latvian rider Kristaps Neretnieks came second in this league with 64 points. He obtained all his qualifications in Krakow.

In the Southern Subleague, Angelos Touloupis from Greece topped the leaderboard with 76. Touloupis qualified in Krakow and Poznan.

Several upcoming talents are coming through the ranks. Jeanne Sadran arrives from the Western European League at the age of 22. In 2022, she won the individual final of the European Young Riders' Championship in Oliva. Two young talents come from the North American League. The first is the twenty-year-old Skylar Wireman, who finished seventh. Wireman won the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ stage in Fort Worth earlier this season. The second rider is the 24-year-old Colombian rider Nicolas Gamboa, who came eighth in the ranking. Gamboa finished second in the class that Wireman won.

Marking not only the first ever FEI World Cup™ Finals in the region, the participants in Riyadh will be competing for a total of 2.6 million Euros, a prize fund reaching the highest ever amount on offer throughout the history of the FEI World Cup™ Finals. From 16 to 20 April, the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center in the heart of the Saudi capital is set to welcome the best horses and riders in the world. As the qualifying leagues all around the globe reach their closing stages during the months of February and March, the riders and horses bound to discover the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – a nation with two Olympic medals in the discipline of jumping – will soon be known.

Watch this space as we follow the best of equestrian sports on their road to Riyadh.