Press release from CHI Geneva 2019

All the champions will be present: Olympic, World, European! Once again, the line-up of riders and drivers for CHI Geneva, from 12th to 15th December, will be second to none. The show has just been named the best in the world for indoor show jumping and for cross-country, so its organisers and spectators have something to celebrate!

Among the hundred-odd riders and drivers from 22 countries who will pack the Palexpo arena on 12-15th December, spectators are guaranteed to see the best in action. Four Olympic show jumping champions will be present: Steve Guerdat (Switzerland), Eric Lamaze (Canada), Rodrigo Pessoa (Brazil) and Jeroen Dubbeldam (Netherlands) – the last two are also world champions. European individual champions Martin Fuchs (Switzerland), Peder Fredricson (Sweden), Roger-Yves Bost and Kevin Staut (France) as well as Christian Ahlmann (Germany) will be there too. Bringing a Latin American flavour to the contest will be the Pan-American Games 2019 double gold medallist Marlon Zanotelli from Brazil, along with his runner-up from Argentina Jose Larocca, and the winner of the 2016 Rolex Grand Prix of Geneva Pedro Veniss, also from Brazil.

Last year’s Rolex Grand Prix winner Marcus Ehning (Germany) will of course be back, as will the only rider ever to have achieved the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping, Scott Brash from the UK. Kent Farrington (US), winner of the 2019 Aachen Grand Prix, and Henrik von Eckermann (Sweden), winner of this spring’s Dutch Masters, will both be trying to claim the bonus offered for two non-consecutive victories in the Grand Slam.

The Swiss delegation will have 18 riders to count on, including the world’s top two riders, Steve Guerdat and Martin Fuchs. Also present will be Swiss champion Pius Schwizer and young Bryan Balsiger, who shone in Oslo’s Grand Prix to take his first World Cup win. Tomorrow’s elite – international under-25 riders, including eight from Switzerland – will prove their abilities in three competitions culminating in Saturday afternoon’s Grand Prix des Espoirs.

The Driving World Cup will feature six drivers including, for the first time in Geneva, a woman – 34-year-old Mareike Harm from Germany who came third in Stuttgart in November. With Australian Boyd Exell as her trainer, she certainly has everything in place to do well in the driving, as he totally dominates the discipline, having won the first three rounds of the World Cup circuit. However, there are younger riders such as Bram Chardon (Netherlands) and Glenn Geerts (Belgium) waiting in the wings, and Swiss rider Jérôme Voutaz will be hoping to excel with his Franches-Montagnes team. 

CHI Geneva organisers have also managed to assemble the top eventing riders to celebrate their first title of best indoor cross-country. Olympic team champion and world champion Jean Teulère (France) will compete alongside his compatriot and Olympic teammate Karim Laghouag. Last year’s winner of this competition, presented by the Tribune de Genève, Padraig McCarthy from Ireland, who also won silver at the last World Equestrian Games, will be back to defend his title, while runner-up Alex Bragg (UK) put on a great show for the spectators and will be anxious to make his mark again. This being Geneva, all eyes will be on the Swiss talent, namely Caroline Gerber, Camille Guyot, Tiziana Realini and Teresa Stokar, as well as young Robin Godel.

On Saturday evening, the main arena will host the Prix Starling Hotel Grande Chasse speed competition and the Credit Suisse Challenge and mark various notable achievements before staging the first-ever MasterShow. This highly original musical extravaganza combining various disciplines in a show full of fun and surprises will round off the evening. The Horseman Team will provide entertainment with Vincent Liberator, while European and world trick-riding champion Lambert Leclézio from France will show off his skills alongside compatriot and two-time world champion Jacques Ferrari.