Jasmin Lindner and Lukas Wacha (AUT), current world champions, have worked on their choreography for almost a year and are now ready to defend their FEI World Cup™ Vaulting 2014/15 title. (Daniel Kaiser/FEI)
Lausanne (SUI), 5 November 2014 – The stage is set for an electrifying FEI World Cup™ Vaulting 2014/15, with 30 of the world’s best vaulters from nine nations poised for the four-leg European city tour, before the Final in March 2015.
This fourth edition of the series comes just two months after the hugely successful vaulting at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy, with spectators roaring support for their athletes over five days of awe-inspiring competition in the Zenith Arena, which has hosted world-renowned artists, including Leonard Cohen.
A total of 23 athletes from the FEI World Cup™ line-up, including reigning champion Anna Cavallaro (ITA) who is seeking to score a hat-trick, are now poised to battle it out at the first leg of FEI World Cup™ Vaulting starting tomorrow (6-7 November) in Munich’s iconic Olympic Hall, which has welcomed the likes of Elton John, Metallica and James Blunt.
Austria’s Jasmin Lindner and Lukas Wacha, the pas-de-deux FEI World Cup™ champions and gold medalists at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014, will also jump into action in Munich. “By staging the qualifiers in major cities, the series attracts amazing audiences,” said Lindner. “The World Cup is vital for the future development of vaulting. We’re all set for Munich, and can’t wait to compete in front of our home crowd in Salzburg in the run-up to Christmas.”
Nineteen-year-old Adam Lukac from Slovakia, a brand new face in this year’s FEI World Cup™ Vaulting, will make his début in Munich. “It’s a dream come true,” he said. “I want to inspire youngsters in Slovakia that if they do their best, they can one day compete in the World Cup.”
Every second counts
The world’s top individual vaulters now have an additional 20 seconds to impress the judges following a recent rule change to extend the one-minute routines. Great Britain’s Joanne Eccles, world and European number one since 2009, will be using this opportunity to her advantage when she starts the World Cup series at the second leg in Paris (FRA), 28-29 November.
“The valuable extra seconds will really count in my freestyle, when I’ll be able to show more emotion in my routine,” said Eccles, whose unique one-handed handstand manoeuvre has become her trademark. “There’s always a great buzz at the World Cup and I can’t wait to get started. I want to show how amazing vaulting is, and when spectators enjoy my performances I enjoy them even more.”
The 10 male and 10 female individuals, plus seven pas-de-deux pairs, that have qualified for this series from Austria, Czech Republic, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Netherlands and Switzerland are listed here.
After Munich, the series heads to Paris (FRA), followed by charming Salzburg (AUT) on 11-14 December, with the last leg in Leipzig (GER) on 15-18 January 2015.
The top six female and male vaulters, and top four pas-de-deux, based on their best two results in the series, will then come together at the FEI World Cup™ Vaulting 2014/15 Final in March 2015, where they will start from scratch.
Follow the results from Munich here and watch the entire event live on FEI TV.
See Past Results and Standings here.
Munich Media Contact:
Andreas Kerstan
andreas.kerstan@comtainment.de
+49 4307 82 79 70
FEI Media contacts:
Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
ruth.grundy@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 45
Denise Devillaire
Manager Press Relations
Denise.devillaire@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 57