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CHI Geneva: Equestrianism's biggest stars set to descend on Geneva

Thursday, 01 December 2022
CHI Geneva 2022

Photo © Jenny Abrahamsson/WoSJ The Swiss delegation for CHI Geneva is looking strong, with 2021 Rolex Grand Prix winner Martin Fuchs among the big names on the entry list. Photo © Jenny Abrahamsson for World of Showjumping.

 

Edited press release from CHI Geneva

 


 

A total of 113 riders and drivers from 21 nations will be taking part in the 61st Concours Hippique International de Genève (CHIG), to be held at Palexpo on 7-11 December. Appearing at the event’s many jumping, indoor cross-country and driving competitions will be an array of Olympic, world and European champions, guaranteeing some superb entertainment.

Some 60 show jumpers – among them the leading ten riders in the world, who will go head to head in the Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final – will be gracing the 61st CHIG. Heading the field is the highest-ranked rider of them all, Swedish world champion Henrik von Eckermann, with reigning individual Olympic champion Ben Maher of Great Britain also in attendance, along with European champion Andre Thieme of Germany. Belgium’s riders will be ones to watch, especially with 2022 FEI World Championship runner-up Jerome Guery in their ranks, while France will have three riders in the Top 10 Final: Julien Epaillard, Simon Delestre and Kevin Staut.

The Swiss delegation is also looking strong, comprising as it does of 2019 and 2021 Rolex Grand Prix winner Martin Fuchs and Steve Guerdat, Edouard Schmitz and Pius Schwizer. Together, the quartet won the St Gallen round of the FEI Jumping Nations Cup back in June, finished second at the Spruce Meadows Masters in Calgary, and third in the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final in Barcelona. Also flying the flag for Switzerland will be reigning national champion Bryan Balsiger, a recent FEI Jumping World Cup winner in Oslo. Germany’s Daniel Deusser and Gerrit Nieberg, the winners of the last two rounds of the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping, will be setting their sights in particular on Sunday’s Grand Prix, as will Sweden’s Peder Fredricson – a Tokyo 2020 team gold medallist and individual silver medallist – and the Netherlands’ Harrie Smolders, a Rolex Grand Prix runner-up in Geneva last year. Representing USA will be Top 10 Final qualifier McLain Ward and female riders Laura Kraut and Paris Sellon.

The organisers are always keen to put the horses themselves in the spotlight and celebrate the most gifted of them. In the past, the CHIG has seen the final farewells of Nino des Buissonnets, Steve Guerdat’s Olympic horse; Hello Sanctos, the first and only winner to date of the Rolex Grand Slam, achieved with British rider Scott Brash; Fine Lady, the mare ridden by Canada’s Eric Lamaze; and Quabri de L’Isle, victorious in Geneva in 2016 with Brazil’s Pedro Veniss. This year, Clooney 51, the horse that put together an amazing career record with Martin Fuchs, partnering him to the individual European title and second place at the world championships, will make one final lap of the arena on Sunday, before the Rolex Grand Prix at 14:00. All in all, it promises to be an exciting and emotional celebration of equestrianism.



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