MEMORIES & FAMILY
A decade of sport, elegance and friendship!
ALREADY 11 YEARS OF SPORT AND FRIENDSHIP!
From June 20 to 22, the LONGINES GLOBAL CHAMPIONS TOUR - LONGINES PARIS EIFFEL JUMPING will celebrate its 11th edition. This iconic event was thought up and created by Virginie Coupérie-Eiffel in 2014 on the Champ de Mars opposite the Tower of her great-great-grandfather Gustave Eiffel. A way to bring together the heritage of her father and mother, the Eiffel Tower and of course horses. It was while attending the jubilee of the horse Jappeloup and his rider Pierre Durand, Olympic champions in Seoul, that some 10 years later, she relaunched the idea to the City of Paris. It would take her two years to gather and convince before obtaining authorization from Bertrand Delanoë. Anne Hidalgo, who had just been elected, would then assure her of her support. The Paris Eiffel Jumping was born! The partners will be Longines and Gucci for this first edition and Paris will be part of the prestigious circuit set up by his riding friend Jan Tops, the Longines Global Champions Tour.
A FAMILY STORY
Originally, the story was born in intimacy with Coco, her sister who lives at the Café de l'Homme. She is the one who will orchestrate the entire gastronomy part at the Pavillon Eiffel. Each year, she takes a starred chef on board to showcase the French art of living. The chefs come one after the other and shine with their talents. We have notably found Alain Ducasse, Frédéric Anton and Hélène Darroze there. A selection of big names in a temporary restaurant with a breathtaking view of the competition. And when the Eiffel Tower lights up, the evenings continue to the sound of music by her daughter Vanille, everyone dances and celebrates Paris and its champions!
ART AND THE EIFFEL ROUTE
For each edition, the poster is entrusted to an artist. Thus, the works of Robert Combas, Paola Pivi with the Perrotin Gallery, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, JoOne, and Urs Fisher will appear in turn on the Champs-Elysées. The famous Route Eiffel is an equestrian trek with a new route. Each year, it crosses the Île de France region and Paris. On horseback, it is another way to visit French landscapes or monuments to finally arrive on the main jumping track to the sound of the Republican Guard!
THE 2025 EDITION AT THE FOOT OF THE EIFFEL TOWER
The 2025 edition is preparing to return to the foot of the Eiffel Tower for a year on the lands of Paris 2024. As always, the Village will be accessible and free to all with activities for young and old. There will be exhibitions, shows, pony rides, shops and a horse wellness area, associations to support, and above all, hope and fraternity. This tenth season is illustrated, among other things, by a poster created by a renowned artist, a 6-star chef, Hélène Darroze, a show and other great surprises. Enough to spend a dream day with the best riders and horses in the world in a festive atmosphere.
SPORT
Since the first edition in 2014, the world's best riders have followed one another at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, making the Parisian competition an inevitable part of their sporting calendar. The legendary French couple Kévin Staut and Silvana HDC will be the first to put Paris at their feet: "This victory is one of the best moments of my career. The atmosphere is special, you feel carried by the public" confided the winner. Behind them, 8 big names have imitated them, including the French Julien Épaillard in 2017 with Usual Suspect d'Auge, certainly one of the great stories of the competition: "Winning this Grand Prix, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, with a horse born at home is one of my best memories". German Christian Ahlmann also left his mark on the prestigious Parisian stage by being the only one to win the Grand Prix twice, in 2019 with Ailina and in 2023 with Otterongo Alpha: “Paris has always been a spectacle. Winning twice in this place makes the event very special for me. This competition is a real family and I am proud to be part of it.”
Memories are also rich for the winners of the Eiffel Challenge presented in turn by Gucci, Massimo Duti or Saint Laurent with the victories of Edwina Tops Alexander or Roger Yves Bost and in particular in 2021 that of Edward Levy, the most Parisian of riders who had unleashed the public by winning with Rebeca Ls: "The crowd and the atmosphere here make the sport as we love it the most". We will also remember the exploits of Charlotte Casiraghi who won the first event of the very first edition or the jump to 2m05 of Guillaume Canet in the power Renault.
The bonds that unite the riders at this event are very strong. Much more than a competition, it is above all a story of loyalty and friendship, with its founder Virginie Coupérie-Eiffel. A parenthesis and above all a "bubble of happiness" as she likes to say. An opinion shared by the American Jessica Springsteen: "I have my best memories there. Doing what we love most in one of the most beautiful cities in the world is a dream. Every year I can't wait to be there!" His father Bruce Springsteen, like Mickael Bloomberg or Bill Gates, also come to support their riding children and mingle with passionate celebrities like Johnny Halliday or Tony Parker, Billie Eilish, Iris Mittenaere, Mika, Gad Elmaleh, Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet, Charlotte Casiraghi, François Hollande and Julie Gayet, Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni, François Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek, and so many others... They all come every year to support, admire or discover this sport born from the mysterious meeting of two species, as Jean Rochefort likes to call it, our late Jean who never missed an edition!
An ever-growing audience in packed stands, Parisians, tourists and sports fans will once again be present this year to watch this last Parisian competition before Versailles!
