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Sweden Wins FEI Promotional League Final in Barcelona Cliff-Hanger

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(L to R) Rolf-Goran Bengtsson, Svante Johansson, Angelica Augustsson, Malin Baryard-Johnsson and Chef d'Equipe Sylve Soderstrand. Photo: FEI/Nacho Olano.

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Barcelona (ESP), 25 September 2011 – The Swedish team came out the winners at the Promotional League Final in Barcelona, Spain this afternoon and will now rejoin the elite eight-nation FEI Nations Cup series in 2012.  But, on a roller-coaster afternoon, it took a monumental effort from last-line Swedish rider Rolf-Goran Bengtsson to seal the coveted qualifying spot.

Despite the fact that three of the opposing sides were reduced to just three team-members, and were therefore unable to discount one performance, the four-strong Swedish team relied heavily on the man who, just seven days ago, claimed the Individual gold medal at the FEI European Jumping Championships in Madrid.

The host nation of Spain finished second, with just a single-fault advantage over The Ukraine in third, while the Canadians lined up fourth ahead of the Italians who looked threatening to the very end but who had to settle for fifth in the final analysis.  The last two places in the seven-nation line-up were filled by Poland and Russia, each hampered when fielding just three riders, but showing flashes of form that would suggest their time will come in future years.

For the Swedes, today’s result was an enormous relief.  Last Sunday, Bengtsson pointed out during the final press conference in Madrid that, despite his personal triumph and the Olympic qualification earned through the fifth-place finish in the FEI European Team Championship, there was still another big job to be done this weekend in Barcelona.  So for the 49 year old newly-crowned European champion and reigning Olympic silver medallist it was a case of “mission accomplished” as, ably supported by Malin Baryard-Johnsson, Angelica Augustsson and Svante Johansson, he helped restore his country to its rightful place in the premiership of team Jumping.  “I’m very happy,” he said with his usual degree of understatement this evening.

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Competitions, Events, FEI, FEI, Show Jumping

Seven Nations Line Out for FEI Promotional League Final in Barcelona

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Lausanne (SUI), 22 September 2011 – The line-up for the next year’s FEI Nations Cup series will be decided on Sunday following the all-important Final of the 2011 FEI Promotional League which takes place in Barcelona, Spain.  The winning team will earn a place in the 2012 Top League alongside Germany, Great Britain, France, Ireland, The Netherlands and Belgium who all re-qualified during this season’s eight-nation tournament.  After a year’s absence, Switzerland is already assured of a return to the elite group, having claimed the 2011 FEI Promotional League title.  Next Sunday’s competition will fill the last remaining qualifying spot.

The Spanish hosts are amongst the seven nations who will battle it out, and they certainly cannot be overlooked.  They just missed out on one of the three Olympic qualifying places available at last week’s thrilling FEI European Jumping Championships on their home turf in Madrid.  Pilar Cordon was particularly impressive over the early days of the competition, eventually slotting into 23rd individually, and the 38 year old rider is joined by an experienced crew that includes Julio Arias, Sergio Alvarez Moya, Rutherford Latham and Antonio Marinas Soto.  Adding an extra dimension of excitement for the Spanish contestants is the centennial celebration of CSIO Barcelona which was first staged in 1902.

CANADIAN SELECTION
Olympic champion, Eric Lamaze, heads up the Canadian selection, and will be joined by Jill Henselwood, Chris Pratt and Jenna Thompson.  Italian Chef d’Equipe, former Swiss jumping star Markus Fuchs, has five riders to choose from, and with Juan Carlos Garcia, Emanuele Gaudiano, Giulia Martinengo Marquet, Luca Marziani and Luca Maria Moneta on call-up, has no shortage of talent and experience available to him either.  The Polish team cut their teeth in the Top League last summer and, although their presence was short-lived, they showed dramatic improvement as the season progressed.  So team manager Rudiger Wassibauer will be hoping for a good result from Msciwoj Kiecon, Andrzej Lemanski, Antoni Tomaszewski and Lukasz Walilewski on Sunday afternoon.

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