FEI World Eventing Rankings March 2013

      World number one Andrew Nicholson talks to world number four, Jock Paget at Burghley 2012

Recently it may have seemed as if Australian eventing has taken a momentary slide, especially with our lack of podium finish at London 2012

However when you look at the latest FEI World Rankings just released (dated 31/03/2013), things don’t look too glum for Australia and certainly, as we have said before, if you look at the Australian/NZ region as a whole, it certainly bats above its weight, especially if you look at who was born in the region rather than where they now live or who they ride for.

      Michael Jung has plenty to smile about

The number one eventing rider in the world is Mr Stickabilty himself, Andrew Nicholson (NZ) followed by his long time rival William Fox-Pitt (GBR); both riders have huge talent and they both have an enviable string of horses right now. In third place is Michael Jung (GER) – World, Olympic and European Champion who would no doubt love to add the Badminton title to that list this year, not to mention being the World Number 1. In fourth place is Jock Paget (NZL), who spent time with Michael Jung late last year and a team mate of both Andrew Nicholson and Sir Mark Todd (NZ) who is in sixth spot, just below fifth placed Oliver Townend (GBR) who also seems to be back on a roll.

      Chris Burton                             Photo: Paul Harding  lewishardingimages.com

Then we have our first Australian – Chris Burton in seventh spot who had a great year in 2012 and looks set to build on it at his new base in the UK.

The top ranked lady rider, Ingrid Klimke (GER) is next in eight place, followed by two ex-pat Aussies Phillip Dutton and Boyd Martin in ninth and tenth spots. So, in all, seven of the top 10 are born in Australia/NZ

There are also numerous Australians and Kiwis in the Top 50;

15^th Shane Rose

17^th Paul Tapner

20^th Sam Griffiths

21^st Donna Smith (NZ)

24^th Caroline Powell (NZ)

27^th Lucinda Fredericks

28^th Craig Barrett

29^th Tim Boland

32^nd Clayton Fredericks

35^th Will Enzinger (up from 68)

37^th Bill Levett

49^th Lucy Jackson (NZ)

      Badminton bound Murray Lamperd has made the biggest jump of the Australians in the Top 100

From 51-100 Australia has;

59^th Rob Palm

62^nd Megan Jones

72^nd Soigne Jackson (up from 110)

76^th Emma Mason

81^st John Twomey

82^nd Andrew Hoy

89^th Murray Lamperd (up from 137)

90^th Mattea Davidson

94^th Jessica Manson

100^th Natalie Blundell

Victorian rider Katja Weimann is just outside of the Top 100 in 101^st place up from 199th - a huge leap

When you look at the entire list, it shows that there is still a wealth of Australian talent around, regardless of where they live. Some of our Olympic medallists such as Stuart Tinney (110), Wendy Schaeffer (134) and Sonja Johnson (136) may have slipped out of the Top 100 for the moment but no doubt they’ll be back and adding to the tally in the near future

CLICK HERE for the full FEI Eventing World Rankings as at 31^st March 2013