The complete list of participants for Jumping Indoor Maastricht (4-6 November) has now been published online.
A beautiful and remarkable line-up. Equestrian sport is one of the few sports where men and women compete against each other on an equal level, but not only that. Age also makes little difference. At Jumping Indoor Maastricht, several famous fathers will therefore compete against their children. For the Netherlands these are the Van der Vleuten, Thijssen and Houtzagers families and for Belgium the Philippaerts family.

Family
Maikel van der Vleuten, winner of the individual bronze medal at the last Olympic Games and World Championships, will compete against his father Eric and brother Eric Jr who will start in the small tour (CSI1*). The Thijssen family will come to Maastricht with three strong riders: father Leon, who won the Grand Prix of Maastricht in 2007 and in 2010, will compete against daughters Mel and Sanne. Marc Houtzagers' daughter Nina will start in the CSI1*.
All four sons of Ludo Philippaerts jump at international level and two of them, Nicola and Olivier, are coming to the MECC in Maastricht together with their father. They have already proved that they can win. Nicola won the Grand Prix of Maastricht in 2017 and Olivier repeated this feat in 2018.

Competition
The families do face formidable competition. France is coming to the MECC with a strong delegation including top French rider Julien Epaillard. The 45-year-old Frenchman is known for his super fast rides, so his nickname is the 'flying Frenchman'. In 1996, he became European Champion in the Young Riders and this year he won the silver medal at the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona with the French team. The team also includes Roger-Yves Bost ('Bosty') and Olivier Robert.
Top Irish riders Denis Lynch and Michael Pender are also in the team. Pender is one of Ireland's upcoming talents. Belgium comes alongside the Philippaerts family with Pieter Devos, Gregory Wathelet, Wilm Vermeir and Gilles Thomas, among others. The winner of the 2015 Grand Prix, Hans-Dieter Dreher will team up with Ludger Beerbaum to give Germany a shot at victory. So will the Swiss Bryan Balsiger, who recently won the Oslo World Cup qualifier.
For the Netherlands, other strong combinations will start: Willem Greve, who has been back in the saddle since this month after an unfortunate fall, Kevin Jochems, Leopold van Asten and Kim Emmen.

Highlights of the CSI4* programme are the qualifications for the Grand Prix of Maastricht on Friday evening (VDL Groep Prijs) and Saturday evening (Van Mossel Prijs) and, of course, the Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.

The complete listings (CSI4*/CSI1*) can be found via this link.