FEI confirms Jumping & Dressage European Championships 2021 in Germany
The FEI has committed to allocate European Championships in two Olympic disciplines – Jumping and Dressage – for 2021, both to German venues.
The FEI Board has confirmed allocation of the FEI Jumping European Championships 2021 to Riesenbeck, home-base of Barcelona 1992 Olympic champion Ludger Beerbaum, pending final confirmation from the Organiser. The Championships will be listed in the FEI Calendar for 30 August to 4 September 2021.
Allocation of the FEI Dressage Championships 2021 was confirmed to Hagen, host venue to major international events annually, also pending final confirmation from the Organiser. The Championships will be entered into the FEI Calendar for 7-12 September 2021.
Confirmation of the decision on the two Championships came at yesterday’s FEI Board meeting, held via videoconference. The FEI Board, with the full support of the European Equestrian Federation (EEF), agreed that in view of the rescheduled Olympic and Paralympic Games and the huge amount of planning involved, if either of the venues is unable to host these Championships, the bid process for 2021 will not be re-opened.
Following the postponement of this year’s Tokyo Games to 2021, the FEI Board had previously ruled that European Championships in the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines should not be held next year to allow the focus to be on Tokyo. However, the EEF and a number of European National Federations urged the FEI Board to review its decision, resulting in yesterday’s resolution.
“We are very happy to have great venues at Riesenbeck and Hagen available to host the European Championships in Jumping and Dressage next year and we look forward to receiving the final confirmation from the two Organisers for these Championships to go ahead”, FEI President Ingmar De Vos said.
“These Championships have really been a great example of the FEI, EEF, the German National Federation, the two Organisers and everyone else involved working together to accommodate the wishes of the European National Federations and the Athletes’ community to have these Championships next year. I am particularly grateful for the valuable work done by the FEI Technical Committees and Calendar Task Forces.”
Sadly there will be no FEI European Eventing Championships in 2021 as the organisers that had put in expressions of interest to host the Championships subsequently withdrew from the process.
The FEI European Para Dressage Championships will also not take place in 2021 to allow athletes to focus on the Tokyo Paralympic Games.