Team France looks to be serious medal contenders at their home Olympics next year after posting their fourth win of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup™ Series this season. Stellar two-phase jumping performances gave the nation a decisive win in the final leg of this Series held at Boekelo (NED) this week. France finished on an overall score of 97.8 ahead of last year’s Boekelo winners Great Britain on 111.2. Team Belgium finished third on 129.0 at Boekelo, and were overall leaders of the Nations Cup Series. Whilst The Netherlands kept their home crowd entertained, by finishing sixth out of the 12 teams competing.
Once again, Military Boekelo provided a thrilling culmination of top-class sport from beginning to end, attracting some of the world’s leading riders to perform in front of record-breaking crowds. There was further excitement for Italy who qualified of the Paris Olympics next year, after finishing in overall third place and therefore eligible as the highest placed nation not already qualified.
French rider Nicolas Touzaint was doubly elated as he won the individual competition as well as playing a substantial part in his nation’s victory. He punched the air and whooped with joy after completing a magnificent Jumping clear on the French-bred Diabolo Menthe, a horse he has trained from scratch. Speaking after his cross-country round he was delighted with his horse’s performance: “I have been preparing the horse since he was three years old. The ground was very good, and everything went as planned. I was happy also qualify Diabolo Menthe for the 2024 Olympics as well as my other horse Absolut Gold.”
Touzaint was one of a few riders who were using the event to qualify their horses for Paris, and this certainly provided a good test for horses in terms of getting them used to large numbers of spectators to be expected at the Olympics and other major championships. Boekelo is famed for providing a ‘party atmosphere’ and this year was no different. Record crowds of over 60,000 turned out to watch a masterclass of sporting action at Military Boekelo which has made a great success of bringing eventing to a wider audience by partnering with big sponsors and brands who deliver ringside corporate entertaining to many thousands of guests, situated around the cross-country. This further adds to the atmosphere of the cross-country course for horse and rider who are under pressure to keep their focus when jumping fences amidst such large and animated crowds, enjoying the sense of occasion.