Update: The United States qualified for Sunday’s $1,332,021 Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final, placing sixth with 8 faults in the first round. The only other team not yet qualified for the Olympic Games who will advance to the final is Brazil, who sits second. Great Britain leads the way after the initial round on 0 faults.
Fourteen countries from around the world will go head-to-head at the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final, held at the Barcelona CSIO (Spain), which runs today through Sunday. At stake is not only the trophy, to go to the top team in the league, but also a single team invitation to the Olympic Games. The United States is keen to earn that slot, as are five other nations competing that aren’t yet qualified for next year’s Games in Paris: Brazil, Argentina, Uzbekistan, Italy and Mexico. (You can see what countries are already qualified for Paris and how they earned that qualification here.)
There’s just one chance to earn Olympic qualification after the Nations Cup Final: the Pan American Games, held Oct. 31-Nov. 3 in Santiago, Chile. There the top three teams not already qualified will earn an invitation to Paris. As of right now, none of the teams competing in Chile are qualified for the Olympic Games, so that competition will hold extra weight as well.
The six aforementioned teams will be joined in Barcelona by Germany, Australia, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain.
The United States is sending a superstar team of Karl Cook, Laura Kraut, Devin Ryan, Jessica Springsteen and McLain Ward, four of whom have championship medals in their resume.
Where: Real Club de Polo de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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When: Sept. 28-Oct. 1
Who: Check out the entry list here.
What’s the format: All 14 teams—four members on each—will compete in the first qualifying round. The top eight teams will qualify for the final. The teams that don’t qualify for the final advance to the Challenge Cup consolation class.
The Schedule: All times are in Central European Summer Time, six hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time
Thursday, Sept. 28
2 p.m. First Round Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final
Friday, Sept 29
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9 p.m. $104,097 City Of Barcelona Trophy
Saturday, Sept. 30
9 p.m. $319,647 Longines FEI Challenge Cup
Sunday, Oct. 1
3 p.m. $1,332,021 Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final
How To Watch: You can stream the Nations Cup Final on FEI.TV, which requires a subscription.
