The Mexican Equestrian Federation has announced that Canada’s Mark Laskin will be the new Chef d’Équipe for their Show Jumping team, effective immediately.

The announcement, which was made earlier today, stated in part, “The Mexican Equestrian Federation has the honor of appointing Mr. Mark Laskin from Canada as the new chef d’équipe of the Mexican Jumping Team from December 1st, 2021.

“We know that with his experience and integrity, Mark will fit perfectly into our equestrian community and will be a key piece in the growth and future of our team.”

Belgian Olympian Stanny Van Paesschen held the job for the last five years, guiding the team to many major victories including their first Aga Khan Trophy at the Dublin Horse Show in 2018, and the 2019 Nation’s Cup in Wellington. Van Paesschen’s contract ended following the Tokyo Olympics in August.

“I’m excited to work with this team that has such a wealth of talented riders,” commented Laskin who had been the Chef d’Equipe for the Canadian jumping team until his recent resignation. “The depth of riders from seasoned veterans to younger team members is a powerful combination and I look forward to working with them all to build on past successes.”

Laskin will travel to Mexico to meet with riders and watch them compete in the National Championships at the CSI3* Balvanera Horse Show in Queretaro, Mexico, at the end of the month.

As chef d’équipe, Laskin will be responsible for working with riders and their trainers to review competition plans, monitor results at competitions, and select teams. Mexico has 10 riders in the top 200 of the Longines FEI Rankings as well as five in the FEI’s U25 rankings. The country has 20 show jumping competitions on the 2022 FEI calendar including five 5* shows.