-- FEI Press release, edited by Eurodressage
With the full Danish Olympic silver medal winning team in action, host nation Denmark sets the stage for the first qualifier of the FEI Dressage World Cup™ 2024/2025 in the Western European League.
These standout Danish athletes will be competing for victory in Herning (DEN) against riders from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
Denmark at Full Power
Danish Olympians Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, Nanna Skodborg Merrald, and Daniel Bachmann Andersen will be competing their Olympic partners Mount St John Freestyle, Blue Hors Zepter, and Vayron for the first time since the Freestyle Final at the Paris Olympics. In the garden of the palace of Versailles, Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St. John Freestyle took first place in the Grand Prix Special ahead of Olympic winners Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on the now retired Dalera BB. In the end Dufour secured a fifth place in the Freestyle Final. They're looking to write a new chapter in their short but already impressive international career with their World Cup™ debut in Herning.
Nanna Skodborg Merrald and Blue Hors Zepter have already made their mark with a second place finish in the 2023 World Cup Final in Omaha (USA) and individual silver at the 2023 European Dressage Championships in Riesenbeck. This year she also placed second with Blue Hors Don Olymbrio in the2024 World Cup Final in Riyadh (KSA). In Herning, she'll seems to aim for her first World Cup points with the 16-year-old Zepter on the road to the Final in Basel in April 2025.
Daniel Bachmann Andersen and the mighty Vayron have, besides Olympic team silver, already won European team bronze and will make their World Cup debut in Herning. They'll be joined by fellow Danes Nadja Aaboe Sloth, Lone Bang Zindorff, and Anna Zibrandtsen.
Fierce Competition
The Danish athletes will surely put up a fight on home turf in the Boxen Arena in Herning, but they’ll face fierce competition from four other nations: Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
Patrik Kittel (SWE), who clinched the 2024 World Cup title in Riyadh with Touchdown and who won last year's opening leg in Herning, will be competing Forever Young HRH. His compatriot Maria von Essen brings the 12-year-old Invoice to Herning.
Germany is sending a strong contingent of five combinations, led by the experienced Ingrid Klimke. The German 'Reitmeisterin' will be riding the mare First Class, who made her World Cup debut in Neumünster this year with an eighth place.
One of last season's rising stars, Raphael Netz is coming to Herning with Great Escape Camelot with whom he finished fifth in the Final in Riyadh. Germany’s squad is rounded out by Maik Kohlschmidt, Bianca Nowag-Aulenbrock, and Carina Scholz.
The Netherlands will be represented by two seasoned combinations, both riding home-bred horses: Marlies van Baalen will saddle up Habibi DVB, her team horse at the 2023 Europeans in Riesenbeck. Thamar Zweistra will bring her top ride Hexagon’s Ich Weiss. With the grey stallion she has competed at the 2022 World Championships in Herning and in no less than three World Cup™ Finals: Leipzig, Omaha, and Riyadh.
For Belgium the Tokyo Belgian Olympic team reserve, Alexa Fairchild, is enteredwith her own Lusitano Mala Skala’s Hermes.
38th Season with Final in Basel
The winter of 2024 - 2025 will mark the 38th season of the FEI Dressage World Cup. Will Denmark claim its first victory since Anne Grethe Jensen and Marzog in 1986? After what promises to be a strong start in Herning, we'll have to wait for the answer until the Final in Basel (SUI) on 2-6 April 2025.
While this season's Final will be held in Switzerland for the first time in history, Switzerland already won the World Cup twice. Christine Stückelberger and Gaugin de Lully took the title in Essen in 1987 and 's-Hertogenbosch in 1988.
This season's Western European League consists of 11 qualifiers, with Herning being the opening leg. The second leg will be in late October/early November in Lyon (FRA), followed by Stuttgart (GER) and Madrid (ESP) in November. December will see legs in London (GBR) and Mechelen (BEL). The new year kicks off with Basel (SUI) in the second weekend of January, followed by Amsterdam (NED) two weeks later. February will feature action in Neumünster (GER) and Gothenborg (SWE), and the WEL qualifiers will conclude in March in ’s-Hertogenbosch (NED).
The top 9 combinations from the Western European League will qualify for the 2025 World Cup Final, along with the reigning champion, Patrik Kittel. He will automatically qualify if he competes in at least two qualifiers this season.
The first qualifier of the 2024/2025 season kicks off in Herning at 10:00 AM local time, followed by the Grand Prix Freestyle to Music on Saturday 19 October, starting at 13:30 PM.
It's going to be another thrilling season, so don’t miss a hoofbeat…
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