Source:  News Release

ERIC LAMAZE CELEBRATES ELEVATION TO ROLEX RANKINGS NUMBER ONE SLOT

Olympic champion Eric Lamaze (CAN), 43, is celebrating after securing the world number one slot in the Rolex Rankings for the third time in his career.

 Eric Lamaze (CAN) elevated to number one in Rolex Rankings. Photo: FEI

The Canadian’s back-to-back Grand Prix wins at La Baule (FRA) and Rome (ITA) on his super-stallion Hickstead have put him 111 points ahead of 31-year-old Kevin Staut (FRA), who had topped the Rolex Rankings since 1 August 2010.

Lamaze first shot to the top of the Rolex Rankings on 1 January 2009 and stayed there for three months. He was back in the number one slot for a second time in July 2010, the month in which he famously won the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen with a broken foot.

Lamaze, who took individual gold and team silver with Hickstead at the Beijing 2008 Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong, has represented Canada at five consecutive FEI World Equestrian Games™ - 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 where he earned individual bronze with Hickstead - and at three Pan American Games, at which he earned team bronze in 1999 and team silver and individual bronze in 2007.

European Champion Kevin Staut is now in second place ahead of Billy Twomey (IRE), with Hong Kong individual silver medallist Rolf-Göran Bengtsson (SWE) in fourth and Twomey’s compatriot Denis Lynch in fifth.

Check the updated Rolex Rankings .