BEN MAHER – LEADING RIDER IN THE WORLD
Wednesday 04 September 2013
It is with delight that British Showjumping can announce that Ben Maher MBE is showjumping’s new world number one rider on the Longines Ranking List issued by the FEI which illustrates the placings for riders globally.
His performance over the past twelve months since winning Team Gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games through to his more recent Team Gold and Individual Silver medal win at the ECCO European Championships in Denmark have seen him leap from 19th position last month to heading the most recent league table issued this morning.
Sitting directly behind him are former Gold medallists Beezie Madden (USA) and Marcus Ehning (GER) in second and third place respectively. In fifth place sits the current Olympic Individual Gold medallist Gerco Schroder for the Netherlands some 160 points behind Ben’s 2,510 points.
Ben, who is currently competing in Calgary was thrilled to hear the news which had already broken when he woke up this morning as a result of the seven hour time difference. Ben commented “It has been an amazing year since winning Gold at the London Olympics with Tripple X III. When Jane Clark’s grand prix horses joined my existing team I was able to choose and target classes and focus on each horse’s strengths and this consistent approach has paid off. I would like to thank all my owners, staff and sponsors whom have paid such a huge part in this success. Becoming number one in the world has always been a long held goal of mine and today it has come true although I think it will take a little time to sink in!”.
Rob Hoekstra, World Class Performance Manager for Showjumping received a call directly from John Roche, the FEI Director of Jumping this morning informing him that the latest ranking list had been run and that it was Ben who was heading it up. In addition to this, Scott Brash MBE had also leapt from 25th place into 9th giving Great Britain two riders within the Top 10 ranked in the world.
Rob Hoekstra, World Class Performance Manager for Showjumping “I am extremely proud to have two British riders in the Top 10 and in particular Ben at number one which just shows the great results they have been having for the past 18 months. British Showjumping is on a high and is back where it should be, at the top and winning. The Gold Medal win at the London Olympics was purely a start, we now find ourselves twelve months later with another Team Gold under our belts along with two individual medals. To have Ben now ranked the best rider in the world and Scott Brash sitting in 9th place is the best news I could have received”.
.jpg "British Showjumping’s Youth Teams announced for Nations Cup in Linz-Ebelsberg, Austria")
.JPG "Sophia Rogers makes a winning return and Rachel Proudley claims a championship double at Pony of the Year Show")
