France closed this past Sunday, September 20, the qualifying phase of the 2026 Longines League of Nations in grand style. The French team won the fourth and final stage of the season in Saint-Tropez-Gassin in front of its home crowd and headed to the grand Final in Barcelona as the leader of the overall standings.
The team led by Edouard Couperie was composed of Nina Mallevaey with Destine To Be, Antoine Ermann with Floyd des Pres, Simon Delestre with Gatsby du Tillard and Julien Epaillard with Donatello d’Auge. France ended the two legs with a total of four points, a result that allowed them to win the competition.
Brazil occupied second place with eight points and a cumulative time of 216.32 seconds, while Belgium completed the podium, also with eight points, but with a time of 217.44 seconds.
The course designed by Grégory Bodo posed 12 obstacles and 15 efforts, with a time limit of 75 seconds. The challenge was evident from the first round, in which only 14 pairs managed to complete their course without penalties.
Brazil was the only team able to finish that first round without scoring any points, thanks to the zeros of Marlon Modolo Zanotelli with Charly Heart, João Victor Castro Aguiar Gomes de Lima with Cashpaid J&F and Pedro Junqueira Muylaert with Gemme Villers. That result allowed Stephan de Freitas Barcha and Chevaux Primavera Imperio Egipcio to be reserved for the second match.
However, France turned the situation around in the final round. Mallevaey, Ermann and Delestre signed three unpenalized runs that increased the pressure on the Brazilian team. With both teams tied, the outcome was in the hands of Marlon Modolo Zanotelli and Charly Heart, whose fall on obstacle 11 left the victory in the hands of the French team.
The victory in Saint-Tropez also marks France's second victory this season, after they also won in Abu Dhabi in February. The French thus finish the qualifying phase at the top of the table with 290 points.
Germany and Great Britain finished tied with 275 points, followed by Brazil with 270, Ireland with 265, Belgium with 245 and the United States and Italy with 230. These eight nations have secured their place in the 2026 Longines League of Nations Final.
Switzerland, with 225 points, and the Netherlands, with 195, are out of the Final after the last stage of the season.
Barcelona will now be the next and final destination. The eight qualified teams will face off on October 4 in the 2026 Longines League of Nations Final, where the title of this season will be decided.
