Wout Jan van der Schans has been appointed as new chef d'equipe for the Dutch jumping team, the Dutch Equestrian Federation announced on Thursday. The 63-year-old will be replacing Jos Lansink who stepped down at the end of 2024. 

“It is of course a wonderful challenge, which also fits in with my other activities,” Wout Jan van der Schans said in a press release from the Dutch Equestrian Federation. “Being a national coach has been discussed before, but at that time I still had too many sporting ambitions myself. It is now time to take a step back in the sport. I still want to remain active, but not at the highest level. In addition, I have always enjoyed coaching riders. Of course, I know many of today's top riders from the competitions myself and I have a good understanding with those riders. We also know each other from the team competitions and know what we have in common and how we view the sport.”

Van der Schans – who was part of the Dutch team at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and at the 1986 World Championships in Aachen, and competed at four FEI World Cup™ Finals, as well as at three European Championships – runs his own sports stable in Nijkerk, and was on the longlist for the Tokyo Olympic Games with G.AS-Bombay.