Henrik von Eckermann will be in Basel to defend his titles from 2023 and 2024, although this time not with the legendary King Edward. Photo © Jenny Abrahamsson for World of Showjumping.
Text © World of Showjumping
The 45th edition of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final takes place this week in Basel, Switzerland. Run across six continents and 11 FEI Jumping World Cup™ Leagues around the world, 41 riders from 22 countries with 48 horses will be competing in Basel for the title of the 2025 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Champion.
Sweden's double World Champion, European and Olympic team champion Henrik von Eckermann arrives Basel as the defending Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Champion after taking the titles in 2024 and 2023. He will be joined by big names such as Belgium's 2021 Olympic team bronze medallists Pieter Devos and Gregory Wathelet, Great Britain's Olympic team champion Ben Maher, France's Olympic team bronze medallist Julien Epaillard, USA's Olympic silver medallist Laura Kraut, as well as home heroes Martin Fuchs and Edouard Schmitz – among others.
Schedule
The action kicks off on Tuesday, 1 April, with the first veterinary inspection.
On Wednesday, 2 April, it is time for a training session where each horse-and-rider combination has 90 seconds to familiarize themselves with the arena. The draw for the starting order for the first Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final competition will take place on Wednesday evening.
The first Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final competition – a 1.60m class judged as a Table C – takes place on Thursday evening and is open to all CSI-W Final athletes.
The second Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final competition – a 1.60m class with a jump-off, judged as a Table A – takes place on Friday evening. All qualified riders for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™, except those eliminated or retired in the first competition on Thursday, are eligible to compete.
Saturday is a rest day for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final competitors, with the second veterinary inspection taking place at 12.45 CET.
On Sunday, the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ 2025 Champion will be crowned after a final that is jumped over two rounds set at 1.60m.
The competition format for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final
A rider can enter and ride two different horses in the three final competitions, but only one horse in each final competition.
In the first two final competitions, points are given to all riders having finished the initial round. The winner of each competition gets one point more than the number of starters in the first final competition. The second placed gets two points less than the winner, the third placed three points less than the winner, and so on. Riders who have been eliminated or have retired in the initial round of the first two competitions do not get points.
After the second final competition, FEI Jumping World Cup™ points are transformed into penalties. The rider with the highest points after two competitions will continue to the third and final competition with 0 penalties, while for all others the number of penalties will be calculated by multiplying with the coefficient of 0.50 the difference between their number of points and those of the leading athlete.
The 30 best horse-and-rider combinations from the provisional classification following the second competition are qualified to compete in the first round of the third Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ competition, and those unable to start will not be replaced.
After the first round, the 20 highest ranked pairs continue to the second round, as well as those who jumped a clear despite their overall standings. However, the latter will compete only for the classification and prize money of Sunday’s competition itself, and their score in the second round will not be taken into consideration when calculating their position in the final overall ranking.
The overall winner will be the rider with the lowest number of penalties after the three final competitions.
Then