Bologna, 15 July 2022 – As the date approaches, the desire for great events is growing. The top ones just to understand. Which in about 60 days, from 15 to 18 September and then from 21 to 24 September will animate the World Championships 2022 of the Pratoni del Vivaro with the suit and the bindings.
A two months since their inception, the FEI World Championships 2022 of the Pratoni del Vivaro are increasingly taking on the contours of an event that wants to history. The value of the event is more tangible day by day. On the one hand, the sporty profile is guaranteed by the presence of stronger pairs (for the full competition) and crews (for attacks) from all continents. On the other hand there is the back in style of the Equestrian Sports Facility of Rocca di Papa on the world stage, after the great works of total restoration of the area carried out by Italian Federation of Equestrian Sports.
Il double world championship September is therefore an unrepeatable opportunity to enhance and promote ‘wolrdwide’, in every corner of the globe, an area of absolute beauty like that of the Parco dei Colli Albani park, of which equestrian sports and the Pratoni del Vivaro are enviable ambassadors.
The VIPs of eventing ready for Rome
The first registrations have already arrived for the complete competition in recent days. Each nation will be able to decide until close to the event (5 September) who will be the four chosen for the team and the individual. The great powers of the discipline were the first to reveal their ‘long list’.
To Great Britain, the Pratoni have already smiled at the European Championships in 1995 and 2007. The nation that holds the title has nominated 14 pairs for the Pratoni, including the 2018 individual gold Ros Canter, with the Badminton Lordships Gruffalo mountain. and Pencos Royal Jewel. Then the three of the Tokyo Olympic gold medalists Tom McEwen, Oliver Townend and Laura Collet (winner also in Badminton) cannot be missing. Veterans Pippa Funnell and William Fox-Pit are also on the long list, along with rising star Yasmin Ingham and his Banzai du Loir.
Germany, world champion in 2006 and 2014, has selected 15 pairs among which the Tokyo 2021 Olympic team stands out. That is the individual gold medalist Julia Krajewski, with Amande de B’Neville, the 2010 world champions, Michael Jung with Fischer Chipmunk FRH and 2014 Sandra Auffarth with Vaimant du Matz, the horse with which he won in Aachen less than two weeks ago.
Australia, which boasts an exceptional past at the Pratoni del Vivaro with the victory of the team gold medal at the 1960 Rome Games and medals in three other Olympics, but has never won a team world title. And it does not hide the desire to succeed this time. Leading them will be a phenomenal veteran like Andrew Hoy, career winner of seven Olympic medals including the individual bronze in Tokyo.
“I would say that perhaps the focus has always been mainly on the Olympics and therefore we definitely lack a success at the World Championships in our curriculum,” said Hoy. Knight who also boasts team bronzes at the 1986 and 2006 World Championships and the fourth individual at the WEG of Tryon 2018. «There is no doubt that the Pratoni are a magnificent place and that their terrain is ideal for a great event. The World Championships are rarely decided with dressage and therefore in Italy there will be a need for a strong and fit horse. For this, an enormous background preparation has been made and the same will be done until the very end. The Pratoni are an exciting place and I hope they will always remain an important point of reference for Italy ».
Canada, world champion in 1978 and silver medal at the WEG in 2010, has instead pre-alerted 10 riders and 12 horses, led by the expert Hawley Bennett-Awad, already in the team on the podium in Kentucky twelve years ago.
Then there are New Zealand, dominant at the 1990 and 1998 World Championships, which will be represented at best, as well as the United States, team gold in 2002, France, five times team silver including the one won at the 1998 WEG at Pratoni, and Ireland, intent on defending if not improving the Tryon 2018 silver medal.
However, the spotlight is all on Switzerland. In recent months you have been the absolute protagonist of the international scene. The first-placed rossocrociati of the Nations Cup of the CCIO4 * included in the May Test Event at the Pratoni del Vivaro, repeated themselves at home, winning the Nations Cup in Avenches. Dragging them was once again the 23-year-old Robin Godel. Which rose to the top step of the individual podium in both of these races. And also in Poland in Stretzgom’s CCI4 * L.
Finally, in this roundup of champions, Italy. Which presents itself to the home crowd with a strong determination and a great desire to do well. The eight preselected blues are Arianna Schivo, who represented the tricolor in two Olympics, one World and three Europeans, Evelina Bertoli (one World and one European), Marco Cappai (one Olympics, one World and two Europeans), Pietro Majolino, Emiliano Portal (two Europeans), Pietro Sandei (one World and three Europeans), and Giovanni Ugolotti (one World and three Europeans).
Complete the long list of Team Italy Susanna Bordone. The most experienced rider of the group with three Olympics, four World Championships (one of which in Dressage) and seven European Championships (two in Dressage), Susanna is recovering with great determination and desire to be there, after the fall in Avenches.
