While the world looks at the great challenges of winter sports, with Olympic finals decided by hundredths of a second, in AlUla another achievement of the highest level took place. Two days, 400 total kilometers on horseback, a desert that gives no discounts, and one of the most prestigious stages of world endurance.
On February 7 and 8, at the Al Fursan Endurance AlUla, an international competition that brought together athletes from 71 nations – a number that marked a true record for an endurance ride under FEI auspices in terms of countries represented – Fuxiateam delivered three performances of absolute substance in the CEI2* 120 km and in the CEI3* 160 km.
If the Winter Olympics celebrate the ability to manage speed and trajectories on snow, endurance enhances something equally complex: the management of pace, energy, and strategy over extreme distances. It is not a sprint, it is not just resistance: it is a multiplied marathon, where every choice carries weight.
In the CEI2* 120 km on Saturday, February 7, Fuxiateam fielded two combinations: Costanza Laliscia riding Horezzanese Larzac and Greta Bistoletti with Kasimir dell’Orsetta. A ride built together from start to finish, with tactical intelligence and perfect management.
Costanza, a multi-medal athlete and a reference point for Italian endurance, said immediately after the ride: “When you achieve a good result it is the right reward for the work done at home. A beautiful ride, especially when the horses are in form and are able to express themselves at their best. Kasimir was a confirmation while Horezzanese was a true new discovery. In the last loop we asked for something more and they did not hold back.”
The two riders finished respectively in 17th and 18th place, but the value of the result goes beyond the ranking: steady pace, performing and perfectly managed horses, a shared strategy until the final loop, when something more was asked without ever losing balance and clarity.
Greta, at her first race in the Saudi desert, underlined the intensity of the experience: “It was a tiring, tough and demanding ride that leaves you speechless for the breathtaking landscape. At certain moments I looked up and felt as if I were on another planet. I am fully satisfied with the finish achieved.”
As in Olympic cross-country skiing events, the key is not to start fast but to know how to dose. And Fuxiateam demonstrated reading and management skills, building the result kilometer after kilometer, with an impeccable support team and flawless strategies at the vet gates.
The following day, with no margin for recovery, Costanza Laliscia returned to the start in the CEI3* 160 km riding Fara du Barthas. The queen ride, the equivalent of an Olympic final: long, selective, technical.
To complete a 160 km is always an important milestone. To finish it in eighth place, in the Top Ten together with world champions, is a result that speaks the language of the sporting elite.
Costanza herself emphasized this at the end of the CEI3*: “Finishing a 160 km is always an immense satisfaction, because it means you managed everything in the right way, from the first to the last kilometer. Finishing in the top ten is incredible. Here in AlUla the test is very hard: the desert does not forgive, you must remain clear-headed, listen to the horse at every moment and make no mistakes. Fara was extraordinary and my team was perfect, without flaws, everyone extremely focused. That is how results come: with work, trust and a team that functions like an orchestra.”
Two rides in less than forty-eight hours, 280 total kilometers faced with clarity, preparation and extraordinary mental strength. It is like competing in two consecutive finals at the highest level: condition is required, but above all a united team.
Behind these performances there is work that starts from afar, from Italia Endurance Stables & Academy, operational base of Fuxiateam in Agello di Magione. It is here that athletic preparation is born, programming, daily care of the horses and the building of those combinations that then compete on world stages. A center that represents the technical and organizational heart of the team, where every detail is studied and monitored with rigor.
From this Umbrian stable began the long journey of the horses to Saudi Arabia: transfer to Liège, in Belgium, and then a direct flight to AlUla. A complex organization, which requires veterinary coordination, logistics and meticulous management to guarantee the horses the best possible conditions before arriving at the competition.
Endurance is not only competition: it is planning, professionalism and expertise. It is a system that works in harmony.
Al Fursan Endurance AlUla thus confirms itself not only as a technical proving ground, but as the ideal stage to tell the story of an Italian team capable of competing at the highest global levels.
While elsewhere medals are chased on the snow, among sand and wind another form of sporting excellence was celebrated. And Fuxiateam was protagonist, demonstrating that great results are always born from one key word: team.
