The 15th FEI Open European Vaulting Championships for Seniors and Juniors will see over 200 athletes from 20 nations bidding for the medals when the competition begins tomorrow in Le Mans, France (17-21 August).

Reigning Individual World and European Champion Joanne Eccles (GBR) will be on a mission to retain her title against competition from 33 Female Individual Vaulters.

World and FEI World Cup™ Vaulting Champion Patric Looser (SUI) and European Champion Nicolas Andreani (FRA) will also be going head-to-head with 14 other Senior Male Athletes in the battle for this year’s European Vaulting Champion title.

In addition, eight Senior and 10 Junior Teams of seven Vaulters will compete at the six-day Championship, along with 12 in the Pas de Deux.

Ten vaulters from South Africa, along with Junior Individual Male Lambert Leclezio from Mauritius, are also making the journey to this year’s FEI Open European Vaulting Championships, making it a truly international affair.

“Spectators in Le Mans will see highly impressive Athletes delivering powerful and original performances as Individuals, Teams and Pas de Deux,” said Ian Williams, Director Non-Olympics Sports at the FEI.

“We will see well-known Champions vying for the top spot and witness many more international Vaulters pushing themselves to the limit to come up through the ranks - it will be an extremely exciting Championship.”

Vaulting became an FEI discipline in 1983 and the first FEI European Championships were organised just one year later in Ebreichsdorf (AUS).

This year’s Championships return to France for the fourth time, but Le Mans, famous for the world’s oldest 24-hour sports car endurance race, will be hosting the FEI Open European Vaulting Championships for the first time.

Notes to Editors
The 20 nations competing at the FEI Open European Vaulting Championships for Seniors and Juniors are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mauritius, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA.

For further information, please click here (Championnat d’Europe de Voltige) and here (FEI Open European Vaulting Championships 2011).

For results of all previous FEI Vaulting competitions, please visit:
http://www.fei.org/disciplines/vaulting/results