THE FEI will propose to run the team show jumping competition ahead of the individual competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The order was switched in Tokyo to allow the individual competition take place before the team, but the wide consensus in the jumping community is team before individual.

“It was not an accident that for the last Olympics in Tokyo we had it the other way around. There were valid reasons, nevertheless, there is a wide consensus to change that and most people in the room will be in favour,” said Stephan Ellenbruch, chair of the FEI Jumping Committee, at the FEI Sports Forum in Lausanne on Monday.

Santiago Varela, who designed the courses at the Tokyo Olympics, also sat on the panel and when asked for his view, he commented: “In my view, it will be easier to manage technically the team competition first. The team pressure make the job for you and that means you don’t need all the pressure from the first day.

“The requirements that you need to do for the individuals need to be done later, because they are playing alone and they don’t have the pressure of the team competition – that always makes the job for you, it is very clear. You [course designers] can be more progressive to arrive at the individual final because that, at the end of the day, is the biggest class that you build during four years.”

As in Tokyo, three to a team remains, despite a strong consensus from the equestrian community that four person teams were favoured.

The Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs) were also discussed and have been a hot topic since Tokyo. The proposals for Paris are three MER required at 1.55m or 1.60m level, with a maximum of four penalties at 1.55m or eight penalties at 1.60m.