Paris has been chosen to host the 2018 FEI World Cup Dressage and Jumping finals ©FEI

French capital Paris will host both the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) World Cup Dressage and Jumping finals for the first time in 2018, it has been announced.

The city beat off competition from Las Vegas and Gothenburg to land the event, which will be staged at the newly refurbished Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy, one of France’s most recognised concert venues, from April 10 to 15.

The decision was made by the FEI Bureau at the body’s General Assembly in Puerto Rico and will come as a boost to Paris, which is also bidding for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“We are delighted that the FEI World Cup Finals will be taking place in the vibrant French capital,” FEI secretary general Sabrina Ibáñez said.

“This will be the first time the dual Finals have been held in Paris, although the Finals were held separately in 1987 for Jumping and 1991 for Dressage, so the time is right to return to this wonderful international city.

“Last year France hosted the largest FEI World Equestrian Games to date, and we are confident that GL Events, the team that organised brilliant double Finals in Lyon in 2014, will take the FEI World Cup Jumping Final and the FEI World Cup Dressage Final 2018 to a new level of excellence.”

Paris will host both the FEI World Cup Jumping and Dressage finals for the first time in 2018
Paris will host both the FEI World Cup Jumping and Dressage finals for the first time in 2018 ©Getty Images

Las Vegas, which hosted this year's FEI World Cup finals at the Thomas & Mack Center had proposed the same venue as part of its bid while Gothenburg put forward the Scandinavium Arena which hosted the first FEI World Cup jumping final back in 1979.

The Swedish city has hosted the event a further 21 times since then and the events are already booked to return to Gothenburg next year, which is also the host for the FEI European Championships in 2017.

The bid process for the 2018 Finals had to originally be reopened in August to allow the Las Vegas bid to come back with a revised proposal, although attempts to find an alternative venue to the Thomas & Mack, which they had thought would be too small for dressage competition, proved unsuccessful.

All three cities put forward their bids to the FEI in October, before they presented to the FEI Evaluation Commission.

As well as announcing Paris as the hosts of the World Cup Dressage and Jumping finals, the FEI also awarded the rights to 14 FEI Championships and Finals, with Brussels selected as the host of the FEI European Endurance Championship in 2017.

Gothenburg has been given the 2017 FEI World Cup Driving Final, subject to the signing of the host city contract.



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