Italy, Austria take 1st round lead at FEI jumping Nations Cup final

BARCELONA - Italy and Austria shared the top spot in the first round of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final 2018 on Friday night.

The Austrians and Italians collected just a single time fault each. And with just four faults apiece, Sweden, Belgium and the defending champions the Netherlands have also made the cut along with the Irish who picked up five faults.

But it came down to the combined times of team riders to separate the Swiss, French, Germans and Americans when they all completed with eight faults on the board.

When the calculations were done, Switzerland and France finally reached Sunday afternoon's second and deciding round which features the world's top eight teams at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, which also hosted the equestrian competition during the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

The Germans and Americans will join Canada, Britain, Brazil, the UAE and host nation of Spain in Saturday night's Challenge Cup.

"We won already," said Austrian team manager Marcus Wallishauser. "For us to be in the final is already perfect - now we just need to focus like we did today and let's see what we can do."

Italian anchorman Lorenzo de Luca said, "There's still a big day ahead - Sunday is going to be huge."

He picked up four faults with Ensor de Litrange but was under absolutely no pressure when he was last to go as team-mates Luca Marziani (Tokyo du Soleil) and Riccardo Pisani (Chaclot) had both jumped clear while Bruno Chimirri (Tower Mouche) clocked up just a single time fault. So that was all they would have to put on the board when the best three scores were taken into account.

"It was a very good night for Italy, my team all jumped great so I didn't have to jump but I decided to bring my horse in to let him see the fences. We are going to celebrate tonight but we will still be focused for Sunday, I promise you," de Luca added.

The Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup is equestrian sport's oldest and most prestigious team challenge, with teams from around the world competing for one of the most coveted prizes in the Olympic discipline.

Celebrating 109 years of team competition in 2018, this year's series is set to be incredible with jumping teams competing from 14 countries and regions across Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.