Daniel Deusser starts 2017 as world number one on Longines Jumping Rankings

In doing so, the German rider, who enjoyed a successful 2016 and was rarely out of the Top 10 of the Rankings list, has pushed his compatriot Christian Ahlmann down to second spot, although there is only a 70 points difference separating the two.

The USA duo of Kent Farrington and McLain Ward occupy third and fourth spots respectively; Farrington moving up to third from fourth last month, with Ward also rising one place from fifth.

It means France’s Simon Delestre who was ranked second last month, now drops to fifth, one places ahead of fellow Frenchman Kevin Staut who is up two spots to sixth.

Another German rider, Marcus Ehning, stays in seventh spot, whilst Canada’s Eric Lamaze is down two spots from sixth to eighth position.

After his success in the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping 2016/2017 Western European League at Olympia in London prior to Christmas, Great Britain’s Scott Brash climbs back into the Top 10 and is ranked ninth this month, one places ahead of France’s Penelope Leprevost who is the only female rider in the Top 10 this month and drops down from ninth to tenth.

There is little in the way of significant movements outside of the Top 10 places and inside the top 20, with only a few riders making any major ground inside the Top 50.

Sheikh Ali Al Thani of Qatar goes up eight places from 40 to 32, Ireland’s Billy Twomey rises six places from 44 to 38, and Austria’s Max Kuhner jumps up 12 places from 56 to 44.

Below them and outside of the Top 50, Sweden’s Henrik Von Eckermann goes up 13 places from last month’s 75 to 62, Italy’s Alberto Zorzi moves up six places from 87 to 81 and Belgium’s Gudrun Patteet heads up eight places from 91 to 83.

Then come the two biggest movers in this month’s Longines Rankings List with two riders breaking into the Top 100. Brazil’s Pedro Veniss goes up 20 places from 107 last month to 87, whilst Germany’s Holger Wulschner enjoys the big move of 23 places from 118 to 95 on the back of an impressive third place finish at last week’s Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Western European League qualifier in Mechelen, Belgium

Longines FEI World Ranking Jumping List No. 192

Top 10 Rankings as at 30 December 2016

1.  Daniel Duesser  (Germany)  3076 points

2.    Christian Ahlmann  (Germany)  3006

3.    Kent Farrington  (USA)  2950

4.    Mclain Ward  (USA)  2940

5.    Simon Delestre  (France)  2860

6.    Kevin Staut  (France)  2725

7.    Marcus Ehning  (Germany)  2714

8.    Eric Lamaze  (Canada)  2709

9.    Scott Brash  (Great Britain)  2515

10.  Penelope Leprevost  (France)  2493