The Fédération Equestre Internationale named the qualifiers for the next three seasons of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup North American League.
Following a bidding and evaluation process, the FEI has allocated eight qualifiers for the North American League, consisting of Canada, Mexico, and the United States and confirmed the location and dates for the seasons starting in 2020/2021 through to 2022/2023.
The series of qualifiers has a new format, with a minimum four-star level, that will form a truly global qualification process which promotes universal competition. By reducing the number of qualifiers and increasing the quality of the events, a clear and fair pathway into the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup series will be created, and a higher demand from athletes to compete will be seen.
The first of the newly formatted seasons will kick off in Sacramento, California, in early October 2020, it will continue to Washington, District of Columbia; Lexington, Kentucky; Toronto; Las Vegas; Fort Worth, Texas, and Guadalajara (Mexico). The season will finish in Wellington, Florida in February 2021 where athletes will confirm their ticket to the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final which will return to Gothenburg, Sweden, for the 23rd time. Athletes from the North American League will qualify alongside winners of the 15 other leagues, including the Western Europe League and the China League.
“We received an overwhelming number of bids to host these qualifiers,” said FEI President, Ingmar De Vos. “The major changes to the format of the series, the close collaboration between FEI and the National Federations with the support of our top partner Longines together with organizers and stakeholders highlights the continued efforts made to propel the sport forward making it more attractive to the athletes and the fans.
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“The launch in 2015 established the series’ successful introduction into this region, expanding the international reach of the FEI World Cup as a global series in the emerging North American markets,” he said. “Now that we are adding an international live broadcast signal, we believe this is an important and exciting decision that will take us to the next step to place jumping in North America in the spotlight as a sport.”
Now in its fifth year, the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup North American League held the first qualifier of the 2019/2020 season in Vancouver last month and will continue next month in North Salem, New York, on Sept. 15.
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