On Friday June 6, 2025, ten nations will take part in the Barrière Nations Cup at Jumping International de La Baule Officiel de France (June 58).
Germany will be putting its crown back on the line, but will find formidable rivals including the three medalwinning nations from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Great Britain, the United States and of course France.
GERMANY – BELGIUM – BRAZIL – UNITED STATES – GREAT BRITAIN – FRANCE – IRELAND – ITALY – SWEDEN – SWITZERLAND
This is one of the highlights of Jumping International de La Baule Officiel de France. With its history and the unique flavor of a team competition. For an afternoon, riding becomes a team sport. With all the emotions that such moments bring. On Friday June 6 (first round at 1:30 pm, second round at 3:00 pm for the eight best), the Barrière Nations Cup will once again thrill the Stade François André.
In front of their fans, France, bronze medallists at the last Olympic Games, will be determined to win, eight years after their last success in 2017, with Kevin Staut (Rêveur de Hurtebise HDC), Cédric Angot (Saxo de la Cour), RogerYves Bost (Sangria du Coty) and Pénélope Leprévost (Flora de Mariposa). Now headed by Edouard Coupérie, winner of the Grand Prix de La Baule in 2001 with Pro Pilot III, Les Bleus will be up against some very tough opposition.
Victorious in the last edition with Andre Thieme, Kendra Claricia Brinkop, Marcus Ehning, and Philipp Weishaupt on its team, Germany will be eager to defend its crown and achieve a double win, as it did in 2006 and 2007, as well as in 1974 and 1975. Olympic team champion last summer in Versailles, Great Britain has only won in La Baule once, ten years ago. Switzerland, winner in 2019 and 2021, will once again be one to watch, with riders who are particularly fond of this type of competition.
Belgium and Ireland, both wellrepresented in the world’s top 50, boast an impressive pool of toplevel horserider pairs. The Belgians, who finished third last year, have won five times at the François André Stadium, most recently in 2022. The Irish, meanwhile, have to go back to 2011 to find their second and last victory. Olympic champions in 2021, world champions in 2022, and European champions in 2023, Sweden has built an outstanding track record in recent seasons. Italy, which recently returned to the top 10 most competitive nations, will take part in this prestigious event with the hope of inscribing its name on the winners list for the first time.
Against these European powerhouses, the “rest of the world” could also be a serious contender. Brilliant in last year’s Rolex Grand Prix of La Baule—with Kent Farrington winning ahead of Karl Cook—the United States, silver medalists in Versailles, had to settle for sixth place in the Barrière Nations Cup. Winners of this competition only once, in 2005, the Americans would love to return to the top step of the podium twenty years later. Finally, champions in 2023 and 2018, Brazil remains a serious contender not to be underestimated.
The Nations Cup events are key milestones in preparing for major global competitions in the discipline, particularly this year with the European Championships on the horizon, set to take place in La Coruña (Spain, July 16–20).
The Barrière Nations Cup is run in a fourrider team format with a drop score (the lowest score in each round is not counted), a formula highly favored by all riders.
