Qualification for the unofficial World Indoor Championships starts on Sunday in Oslo. The top 18 from the Western European League make it to Basel, where the defending champion Swede Henrik von Eckermann wants to achieve a hat trick after victories in 2023 and 2024.
The Swiss team boss’s goal for the winter is for at least three couples to make it to the final. At the start in Oslo, Olympic silver medalist Steve Guerdat, Martin Fuchs, Edouard Schmitz and Géraldine Straumann are hunting for points. The three men also ride in Helsinki a week later.
A total of 14 qualifying tests are available for show jumping riders, including Basel on January 12th. The organizers around Andy Kistler are organizing two major events in the next few months.
The World Cup final in Basel from April 2nd to 6th includes the disciplines of dressage, vaulting and show jumping. In show jumping there is a championship with tests over three days. For the Swiss aces, Basel is the highlight in 2025. Because the European Championship in the summer is not linked to Olympic qualification, and there is no competition from overseas in this comparison.
