Hamburg Global Champions Tour Kicks Off This Week

The world’s top riders arrive in Hamburg this week for the third leg of the Global Champions Tour 2012 with €285,000 at stake in the hotly-contested Grand Prix.

The highest ranked riders on the international scene (listed below) and the richest prize money in the sport of show jumping set the stage for a thrilling four days of competition as part of the GCT season, the world’s premier show jumping circuit.

The Global Champions Tour Grand Prix will take place in the famous main grass arena on Saturday with around 50 riders battling for victory and a share of the €285,000 prize pot.

In Hamburg this year the GCT Grand Prix not only counts for the GCT rankings but also as a qualifier for the forthcoming London Olympics this summer. Course designer Frank Rothenberger will be setting serious challenges for the riders and horses throughout the weekend. Huge crowds are expected to witness top-level sport with the best riders performing in this critical Olympic year. Many of its riders will also be representing their countries in the Olympics.

GCT President Jan Tops said: “I am confident spectators and our TV and livestreaming audiences will be treated to some spectacular world class equestrian sport.”

Luxury Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre will present a beautiful timepiece to the winner of the Grand Prix as part of its sponsorship of the Global Champions Tour.

Edwina Tops-Alexander (pictured), 2011 GCT overall champion, has led the GCT rankings for 2012 since winning the opening Grand Prix of the season in Doha, Qatar. Irish rider Denis Lynch, who won one of the top classes in Hamburg last year, is in second place followed by German riders Marco Kutscher and Marcus Ehning.

Last year Swedish rider Rolf-Goran Bengtsson won the Grand Prix in a dramatic jump off on his champion horse Casall La Silla with Ludger Beerbaum in second place.

In 2012, Global Champions Tour will showcase the world’s top 30 riders, competing for ranking points, at 13 stunning international locations. This year the GCT calendar has the biggest schedule since it was founded by Olympic show jumping gold medallist Jan Tops in 2006. Four exciting new venues have been added to the series - Vienna, Lausanne, Wiesbaden and Shanghai.

The Grand Prix will be broadcast on Eurosport, which reaches around 130 million homes in 59 countries. Fans of GCT can also watch the top riders in action via live streaming on the GCT website www.globalchampionstour.com.

These are the confirmed riders for the GCT in Hamburg this week:

ARG	Jose Larocca	AUS	Edwina Tops-Alexander
BEL	Gregory Wathelet	BEL	Cindy v.d. Straten
DEN	Emilie Martinsen	EGY	Abdel Saïd
FRA	Kevin Staut	FRA	Patrice Delaveau
FRA	Pénélope Leprevost	FRA	Roger-Yves Bost
FRA	Simon Delestre	GBR	Michael Whitaker
GBR	Ben Maher	GBR	Nick Skelton
GER	Ludger Beerbaum	GER	Christian Ahlmann
GER	Marco Kutscher	GER	Marcus Ehning
GER	Carsten-Otto Nagel	GER	Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum
GER	Philipp Weishaupt	GER	Katrin Eckermann
GER	Thomas Voss	GER	Rene Tebbel
GER	Janne-Friederike Meyer	IRL	Billy Twomey
IRL	Mark McAuley	IRL	Denis Lynch
JAP	Toshiki Masui	KSA	Kamal Bahamdan
MEX	Jaime Azcarraga	NED	Maikel van der Vleuten
NED	Gerco Schröder	NED	Jeroen Dubbeldam
NOR	Line Raaholt	POR	Luciana Diniz
QAT	Sheikh Ali Al Thani	QAT	Faleh Al Adjmi
RUS	Vladimir Beletksiy	RUS	Vladimir Tuganov
SUI	Pius Schwizer	SUI	Steve Guerdat
SWE	Rolf-Göran Bengtsson	SYR	Saber Hamsho
UKR	Katharina Offel	USA	Kirsten Coe
USA	Laura Kraut	USA	Richard Spooner
USA	Lauren Hough

Quick Link

• Visit the Global Champions Tour website