The FEI Sports Forum 2024 in Lausanne, Switzerland, came to an end on Tuesday with the opening session of the day dedicated to the 'FEI Championships review', while the first of two afternoon sessions focused on safeguarding, before it was time for the closing session on 'Equity in equestrian: assessing gender equality across key roles and levels'. 

FEI Deputy Legal Director Áine Power opened the second day of the Sports Forum explaining the bidding process for FEI championships and how the low number of bids indicates that there is an issue. Currently, the FEI Jumping European Championship 2025 is one of the major FEI championships missing a bid. 

In the second part of the session, FEI Games Operations Director Tim Hadaway led a panel discussion between FEI Commercial Director Ralph Straus, Simone Perillo (Secretary General of the Italian Equestrian Federation), Michael Stone (President ot Wellington International), Casper Cassøe Krüth (Chief Operating Officer of the Global Equestrian Group) and Nayla Stössel (President of the Longines CSIO St Gallen). The panel focused on five main subjects: Why are championships important, what drives the interest to host a championships, the additional requirements and costs involved, the commercial aspects and income opportunities, as well as the pros and cons of the current bid process – with Simone Perillo from the Italian Federation pointing out that a drastic change is needed. 

You can view the presentation here. 

Tuesday’s second session was dedicated to raising awareness among the national federations and other stakeholders on the importance of safeguarding. FEI Safeguarding advisor Lucy Trochet pointed out how prioritizing safeguarding as part of the agenda at the FEI Sports Forum 2024 sends a clear message. To further educate the members of the community, FEI will be hosting a safeguarding webinar on May 23rd. 

You can watch the presentation on safeguarding here. 

The 2024-edition of the FEI Sports Forum ended with a session on equity in equestrian, with a look on gender equality across key roles and levels. Jessica Kürten – Chair of the FEI Athletes Committee – moderated the session, with HRH Nanda-Dévi Norodom (Secretary General of the Cambodian Equestrian Federation), Mandana Mehran Pour (Head of Participation & Development at the British Equestrian Federation) as well as Jack Huang (FEI Executive Board Member) presenting. 

“While equestrian is widely considered to be a gender-neutral sport, which allows all participants to compete on an equal footing, the reality is that there are still areas within the sport where gender equality is not fully realised,” the FEI pointed out in their press release following the Sports Forum.

You can watch the replay of the second day at the FEI Sports Forum 2024 here or below. 

You can read the FEI's own reports from the Sports Forum 2024 via this link.