2 South Africans Qualify for FEI World Jumping Challenge Final

The FEI World Jumping Challenge hosted in 2020 was no foreign competition to our South African show jumpers, however, due to the global pandemic, the rules were altered slightly to accommodate the global shutdown in the early parts of the year. Whereas usually the competition would be calculated over 3 legs, the 2020 season was adapted to only account for an athlete’s 2 best legs of the competition, but this did not seem to affect our local riders.

After a very successful run of form for Laurin Jean McLaren where she placed 2nd in the second leg of the series, hosted by Fourways Riding Centre, and placed 1st in leg 3 which was hosted by Kyalami Equestrian Park, Laurin concluded the year as the highest qualifier for the South African series. The overall world results were placed on hold whilst awaiting the final results from Zone 9 (India, Philippines, Indonesia) but with those concluded and calculated in January 2021, the category A results were in. Topping the table with zero penalties and 1.26 points was South Africa’s very own Laurin Jean McLaren and Locarno Nandi. Riding out of the Sunny Park Stables setup in Benoni, Laurin showed great consistency throughout the season to come out on top in the qualifiers. This fantastic achievement has now qualified Laurin to compete in the FEI World Jumping Challenge Final which will be hosted in Jakarta, Indonesia, in August 2021.

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But South Africa was able to qualify a second rider for the 2021 World Jumping Challenge Final in Hannah Garton.

As Hannah Garton was not competitive in the 2020 season on Kolinko Van De Witte Poort on whom she’d qualified, we reached out to Gigi Mathias, Chair of the FEI Group IX Region, for confirmation. Because of the cancellation of the 2020 Finals due to the global pandemic, the decision was made by the FEI to allocate one of the qualifying spots for the 2021 finals to the winner of the 2019 season. This allocation would enable the victor of the 2019 season the opportunity to compete at the FEI World Jumping Challenge finals.

With the overall results tallied from the 2019 season, our South African talent, Hannah Garton, who has repeatedly represented South Africa at several international equestrian competitions, secured the top South African position and 4th place in the overall world rankings. Successfully beating all local riders from the various provinces, Hannah has been afforded the opportunity to claim one of the available positions for the FEI World Jumping Challenge in Jakarta, Indonesia, later this year.

After an incredible season of showjumping in 2019, Hannah Garton was certainly one of the most progressive young riders and set her sights on European competition. With several competitions under her belt in Holland before the world shut down, Hannah was on an exciting trajectory for great success. This further opportunity for Hannah to represent her country is yet another feather in the young talents cap.

Hannah no longer competes on Kolinko, who has subsequently moved on to Chatan Hendriks. Chatan and Kolinko have been on fine form, most recently winning the 1.40 Champs at the 2021 President’s Cup.

Congratulations to both Laurin Jean McLaren and Hannah Garton on your qualification for the Finals, may you have a successful journey and bring home the medals.

-The JumpOff-

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