Dressage-News

The new grand stand nearing completion in time for the European Champi0onships at Rotterdam’s Kralingse Forest site scheduled for Aug. 17-21.

The 25th FEI European Dressage Championships are set to be the biggest yet, with a record 21 nations competing. And tickets for the Freestyle to Music, which will decide the individual medals, are sold out with tickets for the other three days selling fast.

With less than three weeks to go, 18 nations hope to field full teams and a further three countries plan to send individuals for the championships that is the qualifier for the Olympics in London next year.

The nations planning to field teams are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Switzerland, Sweden and Ukraine. Three nations planning to send individuals are Czech Republic, Turkey and Hungary

Great Britain automatically qualified for London as the host nation while Germany and Netherlands qualified at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky in 2010.

So, three other teams will qualify through the Europeans.

Austria’s chance of qualifying a team suffered a major setback when their leading rider, Victoria Max-Theurer, was hospitalized earlier this month with starting symptoms of pulmonary embolism that forced her to withdraw from the CHIO Aachen, Germany, and is in doubt for the Europeans with her top horse, Augustin.

The previous European record of participants was set in 1997 when 19 nations competed in Verden, Germany, although Arnhem, Netherlands, hosted the largest ever Open European Championships in 1999 with riders from 25 nations.

Tickets are available on:

For the Americas, qualifying will be at the Pan American Games at small tour in Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct. 14-29. The United States qualified at the 2010 WEG.