The FEI Olympic Athletes Ranking (Jumping) has been updated with results from 1.1.2015-31.01.2016. It is still Bertram Allen that tops Group A for Ireland, while Gregory Wathelet is back on top in Group B for Belgium.
According to the FEI rules, fifteen individual quota places of one athlete and one horse will be reserved for NOCs with a maximum of two athletes with one horse each per NOC. Only NOCs which have not obtained a team quota place are eligible to qualify for individual quota places.
The FEI Olympic Athletes Ranking will be finalized at the 6th of March, and is limited to the best fifteen results per athlete/horse combination in specified events within the period from 1 January 2015 to 6 March 2016 included.
There are fifteen teams already qualified for the Games; Brazil (host nation), Netherlands, France, USA, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, Spain, Canada, Argentina, Qatar, Ukraine, Japan and Australia – while individual athletes from non-qualified nations have to battle it out on the FEI Olympic Athletes Ranking (Jumping) to make it to Rio.
Group A, B, C and F
Four athletes will qualify from group A (North Western Europe), B (South Western Europe), C (Central & Eastern Europe; Central Asia) and F (Africa and the Middle East). The best ranked athlete in the FEI Olympic Athletes Ranking (Jumping) from each of the four above mentioned groups will qualify one individual quota place for their NOC.
Like last month, Group A sees Ireland’s Bertram Allen with Molly Malone V on top (1133.07 points) and the Irish rider is also ranked second with Romanov (1065 points). Ireland’s Denis Lynch is new as rank three with All Star 5 (1038.63 points).
Belgium's Gregory Wathelet and Conrad de Hus (1285.50 points) are back on top of Group B this month, while Portugal’s Luciana Diniz with Fit For Fun (1269.50 points) remains as rank two. Italy's Emanuele Gaudiano, leader of the group last month, is now rank three with Admara 2 (1245 points).
In group C, Turkey’s Omer Karaevli with Dadjak Ter Putten (812.75 points) still leads the way while Czech rider Ales Opatrny with Acovaro (793.75 points) continues on as rank two. Turkey's Derin Demirsov with Harry K (711.50 points) is rank three.
Group D still sees Patrick Nisbett from Bermuda on top (57.25 points) with Farah van Klapscheut.
Group D, E, F and G
As for Group D and E, Venezuela has earned two spots, Colombia two spots, while Peru and Uruguay have earned one spot each through the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Chile's Samuel Parot with Atlantis (802.75) has most points in group E, while Morocco’s Abdelkebir Ouaddar still leads group F with Quickly de Kreisker (1222 points).
Taipei has the spot in Group G as they are the NOC of the best ranked athlete in this group following the FEI selected Olympic Qualification event, which was held in Hagen (GER) earlier this year.
Additional athletes
An additional four riders will qualify. The NOCs of the four best ranked athletes from the overall FEI Olympic Athletes Ranking (Jumping) can send riders to Rio.
The current four best NOCs on the list are (not qualified with teams): Belgium (through Gregory Wathelet), Portugal (through Luciana Diniz), Italy (through Emanuele Gaudiano) and Morocco (through Abdelkebir Ouaddar) - which means there once again has been a shift since last month that saw Italy on top.