Ireland's Bertram Allen has today broken into the top five of the world’s best riders, according to the official Longines FEI Jumping rankings just published for the month of May.
Wexford man Allen originally cracked the top 20 late last year when a string of superlative performances brought him in at number 17.
Since then the 19-year-old’s progress has been almost unstoppable, with victories and top five placings in the sport’s premier competitions adding valuable points to his total, allowing him to overtake many of the world’s most experienced riders and achieve number five in the rankings for the first time.
Ireland now has nine riders placed in the world top 100 with Allen at number five, Denis Lynch at number 28, Darragh Kenny at number 37, Conor Swail at number 51, Shane Sweetnam in equal 71st, Cameron Hanley at equal 77th, Shane Breen in 88th, Kevin Babington at number 90 and Billy Twomey in 94th place.
The current leader in the rankings is Britain's Scott Brash, with Germany’s Daniel Deusser in second place, the USA’s Kent Farrington in third, and Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat in fourth place.
