EQUESTRIAN: Jessica Kurten was celebrating yesterday after becoming the first Irish woman show jumper to break into the world top 10. Champagne and Red Bull cocktails were the order of the day when the latest Gandini rider rankings, released by the International Equestrian Federation yesterday, put Kurten in sixth place, up from 12th last month.
"It's a huge achievement for me", Kurten told The Irish Times. "It's been a really big goal. Now all I have to do is stay there."
Kurten's previous highest was 11th, a ranking she held in both the July and August listings. The German-based rider, who is jumping at a national show in Kiel this weekend, will be trying to boost her Gandini points tally when she competes in the $1 million Las Vegas Invitational in just over a week's time.
If Kurten can remain in the top 10, she will earn automatic invitations to all World Cup fixtures in the New Year, going some way towards redressing the balance after her application to travel to the shows at Stuttgart, Geneva and Mechelen was overlooked by the selectors at their meeting on Tuesday night.
The selectors nominated Cian O'Connor, Billy Twomey and Shane Breen for two World Cup shows each, with Kurten left out in the cold. The selectors have denied that it was a deliberate snub.
The only other Irish rider in the top 50 is Corkman Twomey, who moved up from 59th in last month's rankings to 50th. World champion Dermott Lennon (81st) and Conor Swail (97th) complete the Irish input to the top 100.
Cian O'Connor, after serving a three-month ban early in the season following Waterford Crystal's positive dope test at the Athens Olympics, is still well down the table in 248th.
The Germans continue to dominate the top end of the rankings. Marcus Ehning and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum have held on to the top two slots, but Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa, the recipient of O'Connor's forfeited Olympic gold, has vaulted up one place to third at the expense of Switzerland's former Dublin Grand Prix winner Markus Fuchs.
FEI WORLD SHOW JUMPING RIDER RANKINGS: Top 10: 1, Marcus Ehning, Germany, 2,891 points; 2, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, Germany, 2,740; 3, Rodrigo Pessoa, Brazil, 2,695; 4, Markus Fuchs, Switzerland, 2,532; 5, Nick Skelton, Britain, 2,515; 6, Jessica Kurten, Ireland, 2,296; 7, Ludger Beerbaum, Germany, 2,253; 8, Christian Ahlmann, Germany, 2,162; 9, Beezie Madden, USA, 2,136; 10, Lars Nieberg, Germany, 2,133. Other Irish placings in top 100: 50, Billy Twomey, 865; 81, Dermott Lennon, 657; 97, Conor Swail, 570.
