BANBRIDGE-born Dermott Lennon was best of the Irish after the first round of the Rolex FEI World Cup Final in Geneva, Switzerland tonight (Thursday), finishing on a clear round in 13th place with Woods Rosbotham's talented gelding 'Hallmark Elite'.

Offaly's 22 year-old Darragh Kenny had two fences down in the class with Trade Winds Farm's bay gelding 'Obelix', and completed the competition in 28th place.

The competition's first prize of 25,300 euro was won by the USA's Rich Fellers and the Irish-bred stallion 'Flexible'.

The world's best riders now move on to Friday night's second leg of the Final, carrying tonight's points, and the best 30 will then go through to the first round of Sunday's final competition, with the top 15 then battling it out for the World Cup trophy in the second round.

Though top of the European World Cup rankings, Ireland's Jessica Kurten was forced to withdraw from the Final in Geneva due to injuries sustained in a fall at her yard in Germany on Friday.

Ireland has never won the World Cup Final, though Eddie Macken finished equal third in 1979, Trevor Coyle took second place in 1999, with Kurten also taking the runner-up place in 2006.

The 43 finalists in Geneva are the top qualifiers from 121 competitions held around the globe during the last year.