Amsterdam, The Netherlands – January 02, 2024 – Wout-Jan van der Schans is the new national coach of the Dutch showjumping team. Van der Schans succeeds Jos Lansink, who announced last year that he could no longer combine the position with his other activities. Van der Schans has participated as a rider in the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships and is still very active in the sport as a rider and trainer.
“It is of course a wonderful challenge and now also fits in with my other activities,” says Van der Schans (1961) about his new position. “National coaching has been discussed before, but at the time I still had too many sporting ambitions. It is now time to take a step back from the sport, I still want to remain active, but no longer at the highest level. In addition, I have always enjoyed guiding riders. Of course, I know many of today’s top riders from competitions and I have a good relationship with those riders. We also know each other from the national competitions and know what we have in common and how we view the sport.”
Jos Lansink has already started preparations for the upcoming important international competitions such as Jumping Amsterdam and the first two Longines League of Nations competitions in Abu Dhabi and Ocala. Wout Jan: “The planning for those competitions naturally requires a lot of timely and good preparation and Jos did the initial preparatory work there. I will therefore have a lot of consultation with Jos in the coming weeks to ensure that the transition from national coach for the riders goes smoothly.”
Career
Van der Schans has had a long and successful career as a rider. He competed in the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships. Wout-Jan was originally successful in eventing, just like his father Piet, and was also twice Dutch champion in that discipline. When he was given access to the horse Treffer in 1985, the switch to show jumping was made permanent. In 1988 he started with this horse at the Olympic Games in Seoul and finished fifth with the team.
He himself thinks his victory with Leroy Brown in the Jumping Amsterdam World Cup in 1996 is the best. “Winning there in that very strong field with that horse was really nice. In front of the enthusiastic Queen and with all that cheering audience on the benches was fantastic.”
The best-known horses with which Van der Schans was internationally successful are Olympic Treffer, Broere VDL Corland, Leroy Brown, Capetown and most recently G.AS-Bombay, with which Van der Schans was on the longlist for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Van der Schans runs his own sports stable in Nijkerk.
Trust
Technical director of the KNHS Iris Boelhouwer is happy with the arrival of Van der Schans. “It is with great enthusiasm that I welcome Wout-Jan van der Schans to his new role. His rich experience and passion for the sport make him the perfect addition to the team. I am confident that he will make an important contribution to our ambitions and the further development of our riders and horses.”
Source: Press Release (edited) from KNHS – Dutch Equestrian Federation
Photos: © KNHS / Arnd Bronkhorst
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Categories: English, Jumper News Nederland
