BELGIUM punched their ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games when winning the prestigious Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup 2022 Final in Barcelona on Sunday evening.

An exciting weekend of competitive at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, Spain came to a conclusion when Belgium wrapped up victory with three clear rounds, ahead of France in second and Switzerland, who were also chasing Olympic qualification, in third. Despite an excellent performance in Thursday’s qualifying round, the Irish team had a tough day at the office and finished last of the eight teams with 20 faults.

It was Belgium’s third victory since the Longines Final was first established back in 2013. They came out on top in 2015, and then did it again three years later. The win was sealed by three classic clear rounds that left them as the only side on a zero score at the end of the day.

As anchorman Jérôme Guery pointed out: “We were a little disappointed after Herning (World Championship) because we were good all season. When we came here we were determined to try to pick up the Olympic qualifying spot and the pressure was on us to the end, because to get that we had to win!”

They were locked in battle with a strong Swiss side who were also chasing that place in Paris in two years’ time, and after the first two rider rotations were completed there was a three-way tie between Belgium, Switzerland and France with each side carrying one four-fault result.

But only the Belgians kept a clean sheet in the final analysis, with Guery wrapping it up after brilliant runs from pathfinder Koen Vereecke and the 12-year-old stallion Kasanova de la Pomme and relative newcomer Gilles Thomas with his lovely 12-year-old mare Calleryama, while veteran team member Gregory Wathelet and his 14-year-old stallion Iron Man van de Padenborre dropped just a single pole for the discard score.

The French and Swiss both finished on a four-fault score, France getting the nod for second place when less than three seconds quicker, while The Netherlands lined up fourth on a total of eight. Great Britain, Spain and Germany all finished with 16 on the board and slotted in behind each other in that order, while Ireland finished eighth on 20.

Tough going

The best right from Thursday’s opening round faced a tough and testing 14-fence track set by Spanish course designer Santiago Varela.

There were 18 jumping efforts including a double at fence four, an open water at fence six, a triple combination that began with a wide triple bar at fence eight and a water-tray vertical at fence eleven that was quickly followed by another double at fence 12. The snaking line from eleven to the vertical at fence 13 took its toll and every one of the last four fences hit the floor throughout the afternoon.

Vereecke’s clear led the way and Wathelet faulted only at the second element of the double at fence four before Gilles Thomas set off on a beautiful round with his mare who never looked like touching a pole. Meanwhile, the Swiss began to slip when both Pius Schwizer (Vancouver de Lanlore) and Martin Fuchs (Conner Jei) had a pole down.

So even though pathfinder and Dublin Grand Prix winner Edouard Schmitz was foot-perfect with Quno and Steve Guerdat produced a lovely anchor clear from Venard de Cerisy they had to carry four faults. As did the French.

Going last of the eight nations after finishing best in Thursday’s first round they also had a great start with more spectacular jumping from the Simon Delestre and the aptly named Cayman Jolly Jumper before both Gregory Cottard (Bibici) and Julien Epaillard (Caracole de la Roque) each had a single rail down. Kevin Staut returned a brilliant clear but the score-board would show four faults while the Belgians remained securely in pole position.

Really delivered

Winning chef d’equipe, Belgium’s Peter Weinberg, said his side really delivered today, and he was particularly thrilled with the performance of Thomas. “For us there was pressure because we still had to qualify for Paris, but my riders can live with pressure and they delivered very well and the horses were jumping absolutely fantastic. As you all saw the course was as usual in that Final, difficult and tricky enough and it asked a lot of questions of the riders and the horses. Some of these riders are more experienced but for Gilles it was the first time to compete at this level and he did a brilliant job!”

Vereecke earned a share of the €100,000 bonus on offer to riders jumping clear over both rounds of the Final. “This year has been unbelievable for me,” the 53-year-old rider said. “It started in St Gallen, then Falsterbo double-clear, Hickstead double-clear and now double-clear here. I have an amazing horse who has done an amazing job this year!”

Irish performances

For the Irish, it was a tough afternoon with poles falling towards the end of the track for all the riders with the exception of Mikey Pender who, on his first team appearance this year, produced a fantastic clear round with Marion Hughes and Miguel Bravo’s gelding HHS Calais (Cavalier Royale x OBOS Quality). Bred by the late Ita Hughes, the 11-year-old gelding won the five-star Grand Prix in Valkenswaard in September and Pender only celebrated his 23rd birthday last weekend.

Galway’s Andrew Bourns was the Irish pathfinder with Sea Topblue (Chacco Blue x Lux Z), owned by Andrew Bourns & QBS Equestrian LLC and bred in Co Clare by James and John Meade. They were clear up until the water tray at fence 11 and they also knocked the oxer at 12, as well as the penultimate vertical to finish on 12 faults.

It was a similar story for Ireland’s second combination, Tipperary’s Trevor Breen with Highland President, owned and bred by his mother-in-law Heather Black. They looked in perfect form over the first part of the course, but it then unravelled with fences nine, 10 and 11 falling before the second last also went and they finished on 16 faults.

After Pender’s clear, 21-year-old Jack Ryan was the anchor with his mother Marguerite Ryan’s home-bred gelding BBS McGregor (Cardento x Mark Twain). Having been clear on Thursday, they were also looking for a share in the bonus, but the middle part of the combination fell and so too did the penultimate fence, leaving him on eight faults.