FEI Confirms Dressage World Championship MERs from Willinga Park Dressage By The Sea

The FEI has notified Equestrian Australia of the outcome of the Judges Supervisory Panel (JSP) review of the CDI3* Grand Prix competition at Willinga Park 'Dressage by the Sea', held 25^th February 2022. 

The JSP examined the CDI3* Grand Prix results in accordance with the FEI Board Resolution dated 21^st October 2021 (available here), which states that "two members of the JSP will be appointed by the FEI to conduct the real-time on-line supervision of the competition."

This exemption was granted last year to allow Australian and New Zealand CDI competition results to count toward an athlete's FEI World Dressage Championship 2022 'Minimum Eligibility Requirement,' despite organising committees being unable to secure 5* Foreign Judges owing to border closures caused by Covid-19.

In accordance with this resolution, the JSP has assumed the position of the 5* Foreign Judge, with the authority on behalf of the FEI to make the final decision regarding the granting of MER scores.

Notwithstanding the results given by the judges on site at Willinga Park, which saw eight (8) combinations score above the required 66%, the JSP confirmed that only three (3) results can be considered for the purpose of (partially) fulfilling the qualification criteria for the FEI Dressage World Championships 2022: 

• Mary Hanna on Syriana. (AUS) 72.239% 
• John Thompson on Chemistry. (NZL) 69.478% 
• Jayden Brown on Senator Nymphenburg. (AUS) 67.652% 

In order to gain a full MER combinations need to achieve two scores above 66% at a CDI3*/CDI4*/CDI5*/CDI-W or CDIO events before the qualification deadline. Full qualification criteria can be found here.

Following the completion of the Willinga Park CDI3* competition, the Ground Jury met online with the JSP for a debriefing session, during which the JSP informed the judges which scores would be validated. The outcome of the review process has also been communicated to the riders directly. 

With the re-opening of Australian borders for international travel on February 22^nd, 2022, all future Australian CDI3* events will no longer require a JSP review to confirm MER results.