After nearly a decade out of the organising limelight, it was our friends from France who hosted the 2023 edition of World Finals – mieux vaut tard que jamais! Thankfully, we did not experience a complete arena wash out like we did in Pompadour in 2014; but instead were treated to crisp winter mornings at the beautiful Centre Equestre Yssingeaux, south of Lyon.
After dominating the rankings for the entire season, victory once again went to Team Germany in the Gold League. A win in the team dressage section together with a third place in the team show jumping section secured them the team combined title. And, not only were they awarded the highly coveted President’s Cup, guaranteeing them a spot in this year’s Gold League, but they managed to bag both the Dressage and Show Jumping Cups as well. At only her second ever SRNC, it was Shirley Scholten from the Netherlands who was crowned the Gold League individual combined champion after her third and fourth placings in the individual dressage and individual show jumping sections respectively.
Storming back onto the student riding scene was Team Estonia, who topped the team combined section in the Silver League after their joint first and third placings in the team show jumping and team dressage sections respectively. It was also Estonia’s Stella Brett Mesila who was crowned the Silver League individual combined champion after her first and third placings in the individual show jumping and individual dressage sections respectively. However, it was the combined efforts from the all female squad from the United States of America over the past twelve months which ensured that Team USA was crowned the overall Silver League winners for 2023; a victory which secures their place in this year’s Gold League.
We also welcomed back Team Japan to international student riding, who we have not seen since the World University Equestrian Championships were hosted in Flyinge Kungsgård, Sweden in 2016.
With an overwhelming majority, SRNC Germany was voted AIEC “SRNC of the Year” for 2023. A huge congratulations to the organising committee and the rest of the German student riders for putting on such a fantastic show at the incredible Himmel und Heide – Eventpark Luhmühlen, which can now boast the AIEC family to its already impressive list of competitors. The AIEC “Newbie of the Year” was presented to Great Britain’s Betty Baker and the AIEC “Pic of the Year” was presented to budding Irish photographer Freddie Prichard.
A final word of thanks must of course be given to the many fantastic sponsors of this competition, whose very generous support was instrumental in the success of the event!
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