Children and juniors Dressage European Championship´s schedule is being given its final shape

Equine Sport Center Olomouc is preparing for Children and Juniors Dressage European Championship, which will take place from July 15th to 19th. The organizers are fine-tuning the final details, including a detailed schedule, which is planned literally down to a minute.

The third week of July will be a major milestone for Czech equestrian sports, as then Dressage European Championship for children and junior categories will take place on Czech territory for the first time in history. The organization, in cooperation with the Czech Equestrian Federation, was taken on by the local Equine Sport Center, which regularly hosts international jumping and dressage events included in the World Cup series.

For the organizing team, the fifth edition of the CDI3*/CDI-W event, which took place in the second half of May, was an important test before the European Championship. It was precisely the children and junior categories that were heavily occupied during this show, as many athletes wanted to test the arens. Moreover, some domestic participants have already found out whether they will earn a nomination to the national team.

Although the names of the team members will be officially published only after international competition in Brno, where the remaining members will be nominated, hardly anyone doubts the participation of Eliška Vandasová, who managed to win twice in the junior CDI in Olomouc with gelding Roncevall OLD. Alice Hubáčková also delivered consistent high-quality performances with her partners Versailles 8, Rock on Top 4, and Dieu d´Amour 3. In the children's category, Mia Bobeková shone with third, second, and fourth place in the saddle of mare Beliza 3, as did Jasmína Vášáryová. She finished fifth, fourth, and second with gelding Friday I´m in Love.

For the organizers, the European Championship begins on Monday 13 July, when individual participants will start arriving at the Equine Sport Center. "Veterinary inspections of the horses and official training sessions in the competition arena are planned for Tuesday. The opening ceremony will take place from 6 PM, and on Wednesday, competitions will start at 8 AM," revealed the event president, Barbora Hubáčková.

On the first competition day, the first half of the children will ride their tests within the so-called preliminary round, and from 1 PM, the first part of the juniors will compete in the team competition as well. Thursday will follow a similar scenario, with the medal ceremony for the junior teams taking place after 6 PM. From Friday, the order of the categories will swap, and the juniors will start in the morning hours with the individual competition. The children will ride their team tests. The second half of the starting field will follow on Saturday, when shortly after noon we will know the junior medalists in the individual category, and in the afternoon, we will learn who will rank among the best children's teams.

"The eighteen best pairs – rider and horse combinations - advance to Sunday's children's final, from which the individual champion will emerge. For the juniors, the climax will be the freestyle to music, for which the top eighteen from the individual competition will qualify," added the director of ESC Olomouc, Kristýna Bundilová. Those interested can find all information about the event's program on the website www.escolomouc.cz.