The next World Show Jumping Championships will be held as part of the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France.

The sport of show jumping has both a World Championship and a World Cup. Unlike the World Championships, the World Cup offers only an individual title. The World Show Jumping Championhips are always outdoor jumping, whereas the World Cup is always indoor jumping. The World Championships are held every four years and the World Cup is held annually. To compete in the World Show Jumping Championships you must be selected by your national federation. To compete in the World Cup you must qualify in a qualifying league, not necessarily in your own country. 

• The World Show Jumping Championships have changed format several times since their inception in 1953.

• Since 1990 they have been held as part of the World Equestrian Games. The World Equestrian Games originally combined the official World Championships in five equestrian sport disciplines in one location. It has since grown to eight equestrian sports.

• The World Championships are held every four years, mid-year between Olympic Games.

• The team championship at the World Show Jumping Championships has only been held since 1978. Prior to that, there was an individual title only.

• 1978 also marked the first year that women riders were admitted to the World Championships to compete with men.

• Until 1956, the World Championship, having an individual title only, was held annually.

• The World Championships have a unique, and sometimes controversial, formula for the individual title. The top four riders (after four previous rounds of jumping over three days and a rest day) and required to ride each others horses. All four riders ride a modifed course on each of the four horses. This is know as the “Final Four Ride-Off”.

• France and Germany are the only nations that have won the team World Show Jumping Championship more than once -- France winning it three times and Germany three times. Germany currently holds the team title. 

• Three riders have been a member of a gold medal winning World Championship teams twice -- Ludger Beerbaum, of Germany; Franke Sloothaak, of Germany; and Gilles Bertran de Balanda, of France.

• Gilles Bertran de Balanda's two team gold medals at the World Championships were twenty years apart.

• The first time Ludger Beerbaum was on a gold medal winning World Championship team, he shared the podium with his brother, Markus Beerbaum, as his teammate.

• Canada's Gail Greenough is the only woman and the only North American ever to win the individual World Show Jumping Championship title.

• When the World Championships was restricted to men, it was dominated by two riders for four consecutive Championships. German legend Hans Gunter Winkler won back-to-back titles in 1954 and 1955. Italian show jumping legend Raimondo D'Inzeo won the next two titles. Of the three times that a Ladies' World Show Jumping Championship was held, France's Janou Lefebvre won it twice, consecutively.

• Gail Greenough and Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa are the only non-Europeans to win the individual World Show Jumping Championship title.

Click here for complete historical World Show Jumping Championship team results and World Show Jumping Championship individual results.