Classic Eventing Nation

Double-Double, Pole’s No Trouble for 2026 World Champions Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH

By on Aug 16, 2026 5:36 pm -

Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It’s hard to say what was louder: the pole, or the crowd.

It was midway through Michael Jung’s round when it happened. Ros Canter, seconds before, had jumped a faultless clear round with her five-time five-star winner, Lordships Graffalo, which meant that Michi had nothing in hand: if he so much as tipped over the time allowed by a fraction of a second, he’d find himself on the same score as her.

Six championships to date, with Michi in the irons at least. Five previous showjumping rounds that would see the eighteen-year-old Hanoverian and the most-medalled rider of all time fight for podium places. Just one clear – at the FEI European Championships last year – to his name, when it ultimately ended up being cross-country time penalties that cost them the win. A victory gained, of course, on the final day of the Paris Olympics, despite a pole down; several lost, including the 2022 World Championships at Pratoni, where they had one in hand but took two, forgoing the podium entirely.

So when that midway moment happened, and Chipmunk’s front hooves hit the back rail of the out element of the double-double at 5B – boof, boof, one gunfire clang right after another – it felt a bit like a foregone conclusion. For the third consecutive World Championship, a German would hand the win to a Brit on the basis of a rail. Yet again, and this time at the twilight of his storied career, Chipmunk would sacrifice a medal in the final phase.

The gasp and the groan from the 25,000 or so people in Aachen’s main stadium engulfed the space. But as Michi and Chipmunk moved away from the fence, the pole – milliseconds before airborne over the cups – settled back into its original position. The fence, inexplicably, was still up. And then the subsequent reaction was even louder: the mein Gotts, the clutching of neighbours’ arms, the “I really, really thought that was coming down!” rippling through the place; the frenetic murmurings of relief; the great crescendo of shushing as they realised one after another that they really ought not to distract their hero now that he’d clawed back a chance at the win. Distracted, perhaps, if just marginally, the pair tapped 6, too. It stayed up.

The round improved thereafter, and the occasionally lackadaisical Chipmunk settled into both a positive rhythm and a degree of caution that allowed him to navigate the remainder of Frank Rothenberger’s course without any further incident.

Even the GOAT gets emotional: Michael Jung secures the championship with fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

When they crossed the finish line, they did so as the newly-minted World Champions.

This isn’t, of course, the first time that Michi has held this title – nor, indeed, the first time he’s been both the World and Olympic champion concurrently. He’s just the second person to manage it: New Zealand’s Blyth Tait did it when winning gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 1998 World Championships at Rome with Ready Teddy; Michi did it the first time in 2010 when he won the World Championships in Lexington and the London Olympics in 2012. If anything, he probably feels like a bit of an underachiever: last time he held these two titles, he also had the European Championship title to his name, having won it at Luhmühlen in 2011. He is, famously, the only person to have managed that hattrick.

Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“I feel very lucky to have these amazing horses and be the rider for them,” says Michi, who collects his eighth senior individual gold medal today. “Standing in the prizegiving between these amazing horses, it makes the job for the rider that much easier.”

It’s easy, now that the former Julia Krajewski ride Chipmunk is a multi-medallist himself, to fish for comparisons between him and Michi’s previous bay stalwart, the incredible La Biosthetique Sam FBW. But, he says, they’re very different horses who came to him in very different epochs of his career.

“Sam was my horse in the beginning, and I grew up with him together. He was a very powerful horse, and not so easy in the dressage, and he had not so much scope in the jumping but he was always a super cross-country machine. I had the feeling he could jump everything so easily, he could run every hill, if necessary he could do it for half an hour – it didn’t matter for him. He was super fast in hard ground, deep ground; he was such a strong and sound horse and in that time, that was really amazing. Chipmunk is a super dressage horse, with such good balance and such a super temperament – every day, he’s a joy to ride. Then in the cross-country he’s powerful, and he can run so fast. Today, he showed he can jump so carefully and in a super style, too, a completely different style of jump to yesterday.”

Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Today’s showjumping round was “tough – with the time, too,” he continues. “He started out very, very good; he was super calm, super to ride, really listening when I started to gallop and to the first jump he gave me a very good feeling directly. But I took a bit more of a gallop to the first combination and ended up a bit closer than I wished on the oxer – so that was a scary moment, but the rest was amazing.”

The individual podium: World Champion Michael Jung, silver medallist Ros Canter, and bronze medallist Laura Collett. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Ros Canter, too, has been the World Champion previously – she won the title at Tryon in 2018 with the late Allstar B, and came into this week’s competition as one of the three firm favourites to battle it out for the gold.

But when you’re in second place after cross-country, all you can do is what you can do; namely, a clear, quick showjumping round to put the pressure on the leader. That’s exactly what she and Lordships Graffalo delivered, in ‘Walter’s’ charmingly laid-back sort of way that saw them pick their way around the colossus of the arena as though it was a working hunter class.

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The beauty of this podium, which features European Champions Laura Collett and London 52 in bronze after a surprise rail down, is that any of the three could have won the gold and it would have seemed like exactly the right result. But where it’s the last hurrah on the world stage for 18-year-old Chipmunk and 17-year-old London 52, a return – and a win – seems about as inevitable for the 14-year-old Walter as any result can be in this sport. He has been fourth and now second at World Championships; he has been a team gold medallist at the Olympics; he has been a double gold medallist at the European Championships; he has won Badminton thrice and Burghley twice and this, somehow, remarkably, still feels like the beginning of the story.

“I think part of [our success] is that we’ve been together from the word go,” says Ros. “I’ve been riding Lordships Graffalo since he was three years old, and from the word go, I absolutely loved him, and I think we complement each other well. The things he’s really fantastic at, like going fast, are my weakness; the other bits like dressage, which he wouldn’t have particularly loved, is one of my strengths. But I think the big thing as well is that he has the most fantastic and supportive owners behind him. Michelle and Archie Saul have been in the sport for many, many years with lots of different horses, and they’re just fully behind what we do, and they always allow me to give Walter the best opportunities in life.”

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

His position as Vice World Champion further cements the British-bred gelding’s status as arguably the greatest event horse of all time.

“We all know that Walter loves Badminton and Burghley and he’s got an endless gallop around those big tracks,” says Ros. “So to be able to prove that he can do these three phases in a competition like this, I think that makes it the ultimate event horse.”

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

For Laura Collett, riding into a highly pressurised showjumping arena on the consummate stylist London 52 is a privilege: he’s one of the most reliable showjumpers in our sport, and no doubt one of the most fun to sit on, too. But even the greats can have mistakes, and today they drew one of the biggest gasps from the crowd when, on the approach to the oxer at fence 12, ‘Dan’ spooked at the water tray and disrupted the stride pattern, ultimately taking the front rail down with his knees.

Fortunately, though, that mistake lost them no ground on the leaderboard, and a clear wouldn’t have raised them up, either.

“He jumped absolutely incredible in there, and I have no idea why he did what he did – he hadn’t done it before Tokyo, and he hasn’t done it since Tokyo, but it was basically a replica [of that rail],” says Laura. “He’s been faultless all week, and I’m just delighted that it didn’t change the standings.”

If gold was the goal for Ros and Laura, they won’t be going home disappointed: the British team has been on superb form this week, rallying robustly after a disastrous result at last year’s European Championships to show the world exactly what they’re made of. They came into today’s showjumping finale with just shy of 15 penalties in hand, and ended the day still sitting on a margin of 11.6 penalties, unusurpable in gold.

“We came here to win a team gold, and we’ve done that and added a couple of extras just for a bonus,” laughs Laura. “All the horses and all the people and all the team have been phenomenal all week, and we’re just very lucky to be part of one hell of a team.”

Team GB returns to form with a decisive gold medal victory. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tom McEwen and JL Dublin also laid down a smart round with a rail down at fence 12 to contribute to that team result, which saw the Brits down to just three after the shock elimination of Gemma Stevens and Flash Cooley on yesterday’s cross-country. But for Tom, that single rail did spell a slip down the individual standings, and he and ‘Dubs’ had to settle for seventh place in the final order.

Tom McEwen and Laura Collett. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“It’s a bit of a shame but honestly it hasn’t cost us anything, because I’ve finished fourth so many times before that I’m rather pleased not to have done it again,” he laughs. “And more importantly, we’ve done what we came to achieve, which was team gold. I couldn’t be happier!”

British chef d’equipe Dicky Waygood will finally be able to exhale (in the bar next door, with his madcap group of riders, no doubt): there’s the redemption arc from Blenheim to now, of course, but there’s also the matter of the 2028 LA Olympics that’s been dealt with today. This week’s competition represents the first chance that nations have to qualify teams for the Games; from here on out, everyone as-yet-unqualified will have some serious work on their hands to get the job done.

“It’s really easy to sit here now and say our first target was Olympic qualification, but as you know, we came here with a lot of weight and expectation on the top of our shoulders,” says Dicky.  “So for these guys to deal with that weight and pressure and the expectation is absolutely incredible. And of course, there is a bit of relief afterwards as well. We’ve all worked together so often. We know when someone might be a little bit hyped or not hyped or in a good place, and it just takes one glance — and that’s the same with me as well. They know when they need to give me a kick up the backside as well, which is great.”

Team GB’s supporters were among the most vocal of the week. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It is, he says, “a really, really lovely group to work with, and it just — it’s really hard to explain. But when you say team spirit, we are, in essence, quite an individual sport. 350-odd days a year, everybody’s competing against each other. But eventing has such a family feeling, and there’s very few sports where, in individual competitions, athletes from different nations will say, ‘be careful when you go around that corner, it might be slippery’ or ‘look after yourself,’ because there is a great spirit within the sport. And then when we come together as a team, these guys have kept [that spirit].”

Team Germany dedicates silver to coach Peter Thomsen, who’s recovering from a riding accident. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Germany might have missed the chance to take gold on home soil, but their silver medal finish was met with no shortage of support from the tens of thousands of fans who’d filled out the stadium this afternoon. There was, at the helm, that excellent effort from Michi and Chipmunk, which was bolstered by a clear round with 1.2 time penalties for Malin Hansen-Hotopp and Carlitos Quidditch K (9th) and a one-rail round for first-phase leaders Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel (17th). Team pathfinders Libussa Lübbeke and Caramia FRH closed out their week with a single rail, too, for 41st place.

Malin Hansen-Hotopp and Carlitos Quidditch K. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

They, too, secure an LA Olympic ticket with their result – and perhaps more pertinently, they pay homage to chef d’equipe Peter Thomsen, in absentia after a riding accident earlier this year.

“Aachen’s always special, and then having the World Championship at home is something you really want to be part of,” says Julia. “Peter has been working towards it more or less since Paris. A couple of weeks ago Peter couldn’t be part of it anymore, it somehow brought us all even closer together, and we really think we had to make it happen for him because a lot of work and thought and effort and planning came from him. I personally thought a lot of him and words he would say [throughout the week].”

She also shared some heartening news: “we’ve had some phone calls with him, and I’m happy to share that he’s absolutely on the up. This is as much his medal as everyone’s on our team. Everybody says it’s a team effort, but I think we should rent out the experience to be a part of an eventing week at a championship – it’s crazy, I think everybody is lacking hours of sleep and it’s very intense! But everybody, the farrier, the vet, the physio, the grooms, everybody around cross country put so much effort into it. And if you can then bring home a team medal, it’s very emotional. I’ve been crying a lot today. I mean, I didn’t win an individual medal or anything, but all this effort coming into result is just very, very special and something you can give back to everybody who’s behind you the rest of the year.”

“I think we were all riding a bit for Peter,” agrees Libussa. “He was the one who got us here, I would say.”

Malin, who grew up riding at Peter’s stables, particularly relished the daily phone calls the team had with their coach, for whom Andreas Dibowski is deputising.

“It was special, even when he was not here, to have him every day on the phone,” she says.

(Peter was also, it should be said, well represented beyond Germany: Laura sourced a young London 52 from his stables.)

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Will Coleman and Diabolo jumped a faultless clear round to climb two places up to fourth – probably the most frustrating position to finish in, with its close proximity to the podium. But it’s hard to imagine that that’ll be at the forefront of his mind, because that excellent effort also helped to secure a bronze medal for the US team, who climbed through the week from first-phase sixth.

“I think it’s a testament sitting here,” says Will. “We didn’t get off to the greatest start, but everybody kept a really cool head and I think we just sort of kept chipping away throughout the course of the weekend. Our management, Leslie [Law] and Karyn [Schuter], exude a certain amount of confidence and I think we fed off that and just kept trying to make each day count as best we could. That’s all you can really control, and I just thought all four of us did a good job at that, and we’re fortunate and very blessed to be sitting here because of it. We’ve also had a lot of fun – I can’t remember laughing so much at an event as we did this week. It felt the way it’s supposed to feel, like we were all rooting for each other, and we didn’t really care who came out on top.”

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Of his Kentucky-winning mount, Diabolo, he continues, “He’s just a star. He was incredible. He’s never jumped in an atmosphere quite like that. Kentucky is one thing, but Aachen is kind of another, and he was a little on his toes when he went in there, but he just knows the job. I just knew he was going to do everything in his power to leave the rails up, and he did. I can’t say enough about him.”

The time was characteristically influential today, and Will and Dab delivered one of the thirteen clears inside the time – something that Will puts down to the time he’s been spending in the pure showjumping ring.

“I think you can’t get in the ring enough,” he says. “The show jumping now is becoming such a critical element. There’s hardly an event now where you can go and have a rail and hold any kind of position in the top 10, so I do think it’s a phase you have to get really, really comfortable in. I just happen to really love the phase; I love show jumping, and for me, it’s a passion, so I love studying it and working at it. And I’m lucky that I have a few pure jumpers that allow me to go and get practice at some bigger courses. And I do think it helps me when it comes to these kind of pressure rounds. You feel like you’ve been there and done it a bunch.”

The US, too, was down to a three-berth team after the shock elimination of Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake on cross-country, and they began their day in fifth place narrowly behind the Irish. That meant that there was an enormous amount of pressure on all three to secure clear rounds, after which they would simply have to wait and see.

Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

For Boyd Martin, the result was a fault-free clear with the former Liz Halliday ride Cooley Nutcracker, which bolstered their claim to a leaderboard climb and secured an individual thirteenth place finish, too.

“Oh, I was nervous as hell,” says Boyd. “I thought we had an outside chance of getting a medal if we all jumped clear. And you know, we were lucky with the Americans — we had three really good jumping horses. Bali’s been in phenomenal form jumping and had a great warm-up and went in and was fantastic.”

“Deep down,” he continues, “you don’t really have control over the other teams. But Denim, Cooley Nutcracker, and Diabolo are just very, very good show jumping horses, and both Will, myself, and Philip all had very good coaching, with Lauren Hough with Philip, and Peter [Wylde] with me, and [Grant Wilson] with Will, and I sort of thought we could all jump clear and see where it all unfolded.”

Phillip Dutton and Denim. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

For Phillip Dutton and Denim it was also a clear, but with a scant 1.2 time penalties, which earned them individual 27th.

“It’s rewarding because it was a bit of a tough week for us,” he says. “We were left behind a bit in the first couple of days and to be able to come back today and be sitting up here with all these great other teams is something for us all to remember and something to be proud of.”

As the 2028 Olympics host nation, the USA earns a team qualification by default, which means that the seven berths available this week skip over them and go down to eighth place on the national leaderboard.

Fourth-placed Ireland might have missed out on a medal chance by a couple of rails, but will be making the trip to the west coast in two years’ time; likewise Switzerland, who were in bronze medal position before the start of this phase, earned their ticket with a fifth place finish. Their upward trajectory continues on apace, and after this week’s result and last year’s European Championship it’s clear that the next piece of the puzzle is consolidating the final phase – then, they will end up on the podium they deserve.

New Zealand had a mixed bag of a week, beginning in fourth place, dropping to eighth yesterday, and rising again to a final sixth today, but although the sting of losing out on a medal they seemed nearly assured of this year will be a sharp one, they, too, know that they have an Olympics on the horizon to regroup for. Seventh-placed Sweden will be in LA, and in a huge moment for the sport and the fledgling eventing nation, Belgium secured eighth place in the first session of jumping today, booking their ticket.

Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and Kiarado d’Arville. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It’s important to contextualise Belgium’s qualification history, because this really is a colossal day for the country. They were able to field a team at the Paris Olympics in 2024, which was the first time since London 2012 that they even qualified; on that occasion, they earned their spot through the European Championships pathway, which is one of the nearly-but-not-quite-last-chance-saloons of the qualification process. In the years prior, they had battled it out at the bitter end of the Nations Cup finale in Boekelo, so often tasting disappointment when doing so.

But Belgium has been putting in the work, and their performances as a nation and as individuals have been improving commensurately. At Paris, that resulting in an incredible fourth place finish; some time after, a positive dope test for Tine Magnus’s Dia van het Lichterveld Z that was traced back to a supplement meant that they lost it all, even though Tine was deemed innocent by a tribunal. They had proven themselves as competitors in Paris, which nobody can take away from them; that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

“It has not been that easy, with the story of Tine [Magnus], and then having this result, not having the result, her proving that she’s innocent – it broke a little bit some team spirit, and we didn’t know who to believe,” says Lara de Liedekerke-Meier, who was best-placed of the team in 25th with Kiarado d’Arville. “The cohesion in the team really took a shake from it. But I think we regroup here. I think we can count on Karin [Donckers’] experience, and now — I’m not that old, and I don’t have as many championships — but my experience too. So I think it’s really promising. I think the group is getting stronger. The team is getting quite experienced and also really specializing in the task they need to do.”

It has been, she continues, “a roller coaster this weekend — from dreaming, to not believing anymore, to giving up and then to finally getting it. I think that’s the pure emotions and why we do high-level sport. I’m over the moon, obviously. We have next year to really build up for LA, give time for younger horses, or even go five-star instead of running shows that maybe would have not suited the horses [in order to chase qualification]. So this changes, fundamentally, my program and my way of seeing the next years, and it excites me so much.”

It’s an interesting catch-22 that presents itself for developing nations: if they have to create their seasons around the fight for qualification, the specific pathways of that fight become more important than bespoke planning to fit each horse. That means that even if they do ultimately get the qualification through one of the last-gasp options, their preparation has been irreparably impacted, and they go into the championship even more on the back foot against established, early-qualified countries who’ve been able to focus on horse-specific programs ever since. Now that Belgium has obtained an early qualification for the first time in this modern iteration of the team, it opens the door for them to truly level up into the next phase of their identity – a phase in which they can finetune their focus immeasurably.

Alexis Goury and Je’Vall. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

There are a couple of major nations who didn’t manage to secure their qualifications this week, despite being expected to: France dropped out of the team race entirely this morning after the withdrawal of Nicolas Touzaint and Diabolo Menthe, which left just two riders in the hunt, and Australia, too, was benched when just two of their competitors completed cross-country. Both nations are well-represented individually, though: for France, Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza followed up their 2022 sixth-place finish with a fifth-place result, individual competitor Astier Nicolas clinched eighth place behind Tom McEwen with Alertamalib’or, and team rider Alexis Goury closed out the top ten with the ten-year-old Je’Vall, giving the young horse two top ten finishes in as many championship appearances.

Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Australia went home with a sixth place finish in the individual standings thanks to the ministrations of Andrew Hoy, returning for his umpteenth championship after winning a bronze team medal here twenty years ago, this time riding the evergreen Vassily de Lassos.

Andrew Hoy and Vassily de Lassos. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Also unqualified are Japan, whose remaining two riders withdrew before the final horse inspection this morning; Italy, Austria, and Brazil, who were down to two riders apiece today. Very close but just off the pace were the ninth-placed Dutch team and the tenth-placed Czech Republic team, which should still serve as a heartening result for each as they begin to tackle alternative routes to Paris. Those options, broadly, include two spots at the European Championships next year, one spot at the Nations Cup finale at Boekelo next October, two at the Pan-American Games next July, and as-yet-unallocated qualifiers for Groups C, G, and F, which cover Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

We’ll be looking at those qualification routes in full a little further down the line as we count down to the LA Olympics, but for now, the road to 2028 truly has begun as we close the book on the 2026 FEI World Championships here at Aachen. It’s been an exceptional week of sport and an incredible line-up of talent, and we’ll be back soon with plenty of post-show analysis to further whet your whistle. But for now, it’s time to raise a glass to our champions and all the ways in which they won their week, and it’s also very much time to claw back a night of sleep that goes on for more than like, four hours, ideally. Until next time – Go Eventing!

A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Team Scores] [Live Scoring] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Nations Form Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products]

Who Will Be Champion of the World? – Live Blog from the Eventing Finale at the FEI World Championships

By on Aug 16, 2026 9:20 am -

Great Britain’s Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo sit in the silver medal spot individually, second to Germany’s Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Great Britain are jumping for team gold. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Here we go ENers. It’s just a case of keeping the colored poles in the cups, or not, for the top 25 and then we’ll see the new World Champion crowned. On top of that there’s of course team glory to jump for, as well as the added advantage of Olympic qualification for the top seven nations, excluding the US who have automatic entry to their home Games.

News on that: Belgium have secured their place at the 2028 Olympics with their three remaining team riders having all jumped this morning. They’ll finish no lower than 8th place in the team standings and can book their flights to LA.

We talked to Lara de Liedekerke-Meier about what the team’s success means to them:

As things stand, here’s how the team podium looks:

🥇 🇬🇧 Great Britain head the field with three riders still in play for a total score of 75.6.

🥈 🇩🇪 Germany are in silver with four riders still in play on a combined score of 90.4. That means they have the advantage of a drop score over the other teams currently in medal placings.

🥉 🇨🇭 Switzerland have jumped up into bronze, with three riders still in play for a total score of 110.5.

4️⃣ 🇺🇸 The USA have moved up into 4th place after this morning’s session and are on a score of 113.5. They’re not a fence off the podium.

5️⃣ 🇮🇪 Ireland put in five cross country clears (including their individual rider) but have dropped into 5th place after the show jumping earlier and sit on a total score of 114.5.

6️⃣ 🇸🇪 Sweden are in those Olympic slots in 6th on a total score of 130.8.

7️⃣ 🇳🇿 New Zealand are in 7th on a total score of 133.4.

8️⃣ 🇧🇪 Belgium have booked their Olympic spot with a team score of 175.7.

You’ll find the full team standings here.

We have 25 combinations coming forward this afternoon and I’ll be bringing you the fate of each horse and rider along the way. Refresh this page periodically to keep up with the action.

Here’s a look at the leaderboard as we head into the finale:

1️⃣ 🇩🇪 Leader in the clubhouse right now, in gold medal spot, is Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH on a score of 23, 0.4 penalties ahead of silver – in show jumping terms that’s just a single second.

2️⃣ 🇬🇧 In silver as things stand is Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo on a score of 23.4.

3️⃣ 🇬🇧 Just 0.2 penalties behind second place (so not even a single second), currently on the bronze step of the podium is Laura Collett and London 52 on a score of 23.6.

4️⃣ 🇬🇧 Heading into the final phase just off the podium is Tom McEwen and JL Dublin on a score of 28.6, 5 points off the medal placings, giving Laura a fence in hand.

5️⃣ 🇩🇪 Christoph Wahler and D’accord FRH are in 5th, still on their dressage score of 29.4.

🇺🇸 Best of the US is Will Coleman and Diabolo who are in 6th place on a score of 30.

You’ll find the full scoreboard right here.

🇺🇸 In terms of the US, one rider jumped in this morning’s show jumping session: Phillip Dutton and Denim put a convincing clear on the board for the team but added 1.2 time and finish up on a score of 46.2. Tamie withdrew Lillet 3 before the horse inspection. We’ll see Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker and Will Coleman and Diabolo this afternoon.

A note on the course: it’s taken some jumping, for sure. 34 combinations came forward for the first session and just three of them were clear inside the time.

If you’re catching up with this blog later and are the type to like things in order, scroll ⬇️ and read ⬆️. If going backwards is more your jam, have at it.

This blog will go live when the the finale for the top 25 starts at 3:30pm CEST / 10:30am EST. Don’t forget to refresh.

Until then, here’s some links for your perusal:

▶️ For absolutely everything about the competition this week, including schedules, reports, how to keep up with what’s going on and allsorts more, be sure to bookmark our ‘Ultimate Guide’ which is positively brimming with all the deets.

▶️ Follow along with the form with EN’s guide to the nations here.

▶️ Want to catch up with everything that’s been going on? We’ve got the ticket. Check out our live blogs of each phase thus far: [Thursday Dressage] [Friday Dressage] [Saturday Cross Country]

▶️ And you’ll find EN’s classic daily reports here: [Day One] [Day Two] [Day Three]

That’s not all – there’s also shenanigans happening over on our Instagram channel @goeventing – follow along here.

This is it…
Go eventing!

A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Scoring] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products

________________________________________________________________________________

That’s all folks.

The individual medals have gone to:

🥇 🇩🇪 Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH
🥈 🇬🇧 Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo
🥉 🇬🇧 Laura Collett and London 52

🇺🇸 The best of the US is Will Coleman and Diabolo in 4th.

You’ll find the full scoreboard right here.

The team spoils have gone to:

🥇 🇬🇧 Great Britain
🥈 🇩🇪 Germany
🥉 🇺🇸 The USA

You’ll find the full team standings here.

The top seven teams, excluding the US who have automatic qualification, have booked their tickets to the LA Olympics.

Thanks for following along with the live blogs.
It’s been fun, but for now, it’s over and out.

Eyes on EN for the final report – coming soon.

Go eventing!

A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Scoring] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products

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🥉TEAM BRONZE GOES TO THE USA 🥉

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🥈TEAM SILVER GOES TO GERMANY 🥈

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🥇 TEAM GOLD GOES TO GREAT BRITAIN 🥇

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WILL COLEMAN AND DIABOLO ARE 4TH FOR THE USA

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🥉 THE WORLD BRONZE MEDALISTS ARE LAURA COLLETT AND LONDON 52 🥉

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🥈 THE WORLD SILVER MEDALISTS ARE ROS CANTER AND LORDSHIPS GRAFFALO 🥈

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🥇 THE WORLD CHAMPIONS OF EVENTING ARE
MICHAEL JUNG AND FISCHERCHIPMUNK FRH 🥇

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🇩🇪 Michael Jung and FischerChipmunk FRH*

Dressage: 23
Cross Country: 0+0
Total: 23
Place:1

Here. We. Go.

This pair have been in this position before. They’ve had a pole before. Michael’s jumping for his eighth Championship win.

The crowd welcome the home combination raucously but then there’s dead silence as they start their round. Breath is being held. They’re clear over the first. Clear over the second. Brilliant over the third. Not a tap at the double at 4. Big tap at the final element at the double at 5. Big, big tap at 6. Very lucky that didn’t go. Clear over 7. Clear over 8. Clear over 9. Clear over 10 and taking his time. Clear over the oxers at 11 and 12. Clear through the double to finish. A huge roar. Clear inside the time.

Final score 23.

MICHAEL JUNG AND FISCHERCHIPMUNK HAVE WON THE GOLD!

A huge standing ovation. German flags waving. What a rider. What a horse.

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🇬🇧 Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo*

Dressage: 23.4
Cross Country: 0+0
Total: 23.4
Place: 2

It’s game on between the top 2. Walter or Chipmunk? Or – gasp – neither? Hold your breath ENers, we’ll know soon enough.

Walter’s got his ears pricked as he clears the first three fences brilliantly. They’re very nice through the double of doubles at 4 and 5. A tiny tap at 6. They’re balanced round the turn into 8. Careful at the planks at 10. Now the tricky pair of oxers with water trays. All good there. Massive jumps. Through the final double clear. Clear inside the time.

Final score 23.4.

No worse than silver for Ros.

Great Britain have won gold.

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🇬🇧 Laura Collett and London 52*

Dressage: 22.8
Cross Country: 0+0.8
Total: 23.6
Place: 3

OK, we’re into the medal placings. Jumping from bronze, or better, Laura and London 52 take to the ring.

Very good over the first three. Buckets of air given to the oxer going into the double at 4, and then over the next element, and then again through the double at 5. A little rub at 6 but no way that’s coming down. Very clean and efficient so far. They’re brilliant over the planks at 10. Oh, a spook going into the oxer at 12. They miss their stride and the poles fall. Over the final double though. One down for 4 penalties, 0.4 time.

Final score 28.

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🇬🇧 Tom McEwen and JL Dublin*

Dressage: 26.6
Cross Country: 0+2
Total: 28.6
Place: 4

Tom needs to keep the poles in the cups to put pressure on the podium.

A tiny tap at the first but it stays. Clear over the second. Great over the third. Perfect through the double at 4 and again at 5. Really impressive. Dubs looks great and Tom’s pushing him on between fences, not risking a time fault. They’re efficient over the big triple bar at 9 and then careful over the planks at 10. Oh, they drag the rail at the oxer at 12. A big woah from Tom going into the double at 14 but they’re clear through there. One down for 4 penalties.

Final score 32.6.

Will Coleman’s on the rise.

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🇩🇪 Christoph Wahler and D’accord FRH

Dressage: 29.4
Cross Country: 0+0
Total: 29.4
Place: 5

Christoph’s riding as an individual for Germany so his score won’t impact the team standings.

They’re very smart over the oxer to start and get an equally good jump over the oxer at 3. Perfect through the double at 4 but a big tap at the first part of the double at 5, it stays though. They come round to the rails at 8 and bring the hind down on it and there’s no way that’s staying up. Big groan from the crowd. They’re careful at the next few though but then the rails fall at the oxer at 12. OK through the last double. Two down for 8 penalties, 1.2 time.

Final score 38.6.

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🇺🇸 Will Coleman and Diabolo*

Dressage: 30
Cross Country: 0+0
Total: 30
Place: 6

Dab is ears pricked at he takes on the first, a tiny tap but it’s OK. He’s super over the big oxer at 3. Very efficient through the two doubles along the stands at 4 and 5. A small rub at 6 but it stays. They jump the triple bar at 9 really well and then are super careful over the planks at 10. A superb shot through the two oxers at 11 and 12 and then great through the final double. Clear inside the time. Into bronze for the USA team.

Final score 30.

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🇫🇷 Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza*

Dressage: 29.3
Cross Country: 0+1.6
Total: 30.9
Place: 7

Gaspard’s now competing as an individual since France are out of the team competition.

Another French rider now. Zaragoza’s keen but is being careful of the rails at the start of the course. They’re quick through the double at 4 and then again at 5. They tap the oxer at 6 but they’re lucky and it stays. They’re low over the rails at 8 but somehow it stays. A real angle into the planks at 10 but the horse is very genuine and clears it. A big woah coming into the final double from Gaspard and Zaragoza listens. Clear inside the time.

Final score 30.9.

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🇫🇷 Astier Nicolas and Alertamalib’or

Dressage: 30.3
Cross Country: 0+0.8
Total: 31.1
Place: 8

Astier’s riding as an individual for France, who are out of the team competition following the withdrawal of Nicolas Tousaint and Diabolo Menthe this morning.

They don’t get too high over the second but then give the third plenty of room. They’re very neat through the two doubles at 4 and 5. A tiny tap at the oxer at 6 but the poles stay up. They come round to the white rails at 8 and make nothing of that. They’re careful at the planks at 10. The horse is really trying so hard to keep the poles in the cups. Very nice. They’re foot perfect through the double to finish up a lovely round. Clear jumping, 1.6 time.

Final score 32.7.

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🇨🇭 Mélody Johner and Erin*

Dressage: 31.5
Cross Country: 0+0
Total: 31.5
Place: 9

They tap the first but it stays up and then don’t give the second much space, but it stays. Another tap at 3 but it remains in the cups. Another rub at the double at 5, but still clear. They come round to the white rails at 8 but they’re not high enough and that one definitely goes. The planks at 10 come down too. A rattle at the oxer at 12 but they’re lucky there. No problem at the double at 13 though. Two down for 8 penalties, 0.8 time.

Final score 40.3.

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🇦🇺 Andrew Hoy and Vassily de Lassos*

Dressage: 26.9
Cross Country: 0+4.8
Total: 31.7
Place: 10

Vassily looks keen to do the job today as he comes into the ring. They’re very careful into the oxer to start and then get a neat jump over the vertical at 2. A superb jump over the big oxer at 3. Foot perfect through the two doubles at 4 and 5 alongside the stands. The horse is really jumping and so careful. A couple of pros on show, for sure. They’re very careful over the planks at 10 and then make the two oxers with watertrays at 11 and 12 look easy. No trouble at the double to finish. A fantastic round. Clear inside the time.

Final score 31.7.

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🇩🇪 Malin Hansen-Hotopp and Carlitos Quidditch K*

Dressage: 28.6
Cross Country: 0+3.2
Total: 31.8
Place: 11

They give the oxer at 3 buckets of room and there’s absolutely no way this horse is touching any of the rails through the two doubles at 4 and 5. They get really close to the oxer at 6 and there’s a gasp from the crowd, but they make it over clean. They’re very good over the planks at 10 and then make nothing of the two oxers at 11 and 12. There’s oos from the crowd. This horse jumps big. They come through the final double and the crowd goes wild. Clear jumping, but 1.2 time.

Final score 33.

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🇮🇪 Aoife Clark and Full Monty de Lacense*

Dressage: 31.5
Cross Country: 0+1.2
Total: 32.7
Place: 12

Aoife takes her time after the bell rings and gets a great shot over the oxer to start. They’re quick and the horse gives the fences plenty of room. A tap at the first part of the double at 4 but it stays, and a rub at the first part of the double at 5, but it stays. He’s careful over the white vertical at 8. No trouble at the triple bar at 9 and they make the planks. He’s running on a bit though and they kick out the back rail of the oxer at 11. They manage to come back for the next and are good through the final double. One down for 4 penalties.

Final score 36.7.

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🇳🇿 Monica Spencer and Artist*

Dressage: 28.9
Cross Country: 0+4.8
Total: 33.7
Place: 13

They’re good over the first but don’t get very high over the vertical at 2, it stays though. They’re clear through the double at 4 but then the first part of the double at 5 goes. There’s little rubs all round but they’re staying up. Until they just don’t get up high enough over the vertical at 8 and it goes. There’s a big rub at the triple bar at 9 but they’re lucky. Not so lucky at the oxer at 11 though, that’s down. They’re OK through the final double though. Three down for 12 penalties.

Final score 45.7.

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🇬🇧 Caroline Harris and D. Day

Dressage: 32.6
Cross Country: 0+1.2
Total: 33.8
Place: 14

Caroline’s riding as an individual for Great Britain so her score won’t impact the team standings.

Oh, they have the first fence down but that wakes them up a bit and they’re very good over the next couple. They go quickly through the double at 4 and then are still a bit quick into 5 and they have the vertical going in down. They’re very good over the triple bar at 9 and careful over the planks at 10. They’re excellent over the two oxers with water trays at 11 and 12. A tap at the final element of the double at 13 to finish but it stays. Two down for 8 penalties.

Final score 41.8.

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🇨🇭 Felix Vogg and Frieda*

Dressage: 29.3
Cross Country: 0+5.2
Total: 34.5
Place: 15

They get a sweet jump over the first and then don’t give the vertical at 2 much space. A little rub at 3 but it stays. They’re good through the double at 4, have a little tap of the first part of the double at 5 but it stays. They come round to the white rails at 8 and the horse really tries hard. They’re in a nice rhythm but then don’t get high enough over the planks at 10 and they go. So do the yellow rails of the oxer at 11. But they clear the last double nicely. Two down for 8 penalties, 0.8 time.

Final score 43.3.

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🇳🇱 Jillian Giessen and Seattle Park*

Dressage: 33.9
Cross Country: 0+0.8
Total: 34.7
Place: 16

This Thoroughbred was fantastic out on cross country yesterday and looks keen for today’s test. They’re careful over the first two and then jump big over the oxer at 3. Sadly the first part of the double at 4 goes and then the vertical going into the double at 5. He drifts over the oxer at 6 and that comes down. So does the vertical at 8. There’s a big rub at the triple bar at 9 but it stays. They take the front rail of the oxer at 11 with the hind but then are careful through the final double of verticals. Five down for 20 penalties, 1.2 time.

Final score 55.9.

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🇫🇷 Alexis Goury and Je’vall*

Dressage: 28.5
Cross Country: 0+6.4
Total: 34.9
Place: 17

They give the first plenty of room and are very neat over the vertical at 2. They make a great shape over the oxer at 3 and are foot perfect through the doubles at 4 and 5. The horse is jumping brilliantly, really trying and respecting the fences. They’re big over the triple bar at 9, slightly angling that. The water tray oxers at 11 and 12 are no bother and then they’re spot on through the final double at 13. A superb round. Clear inside the time.

Final score 34.9.

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🇹🇭 Korntawat Samran and B.Grimm Carouzo Bois Marotin

Dressage: 34.2
Cross Country: 0+1.2
Total: 35.4
Place: 18

Thailand don’t have a team this time around so Korntawat’s score won’t impact the team standings.

This horse looks really well as he canters round to the first fence and they get a great jump over the oxer to start. They fly the big oxer at 3. A really unlucky pole at the first part of the double at 4, just got in a bit close there. 6 goes too, a little flat over that one. Then they take the white rails at 8, a bit low there. They clear the planks at 10 and then the yellow oxer at 11 but the oxer with the water tray at 12 goes and so does the final part of the double at 13. Five down for 20 penalties, 1.2 time.

Final score 56.6.

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🇩🇪 Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel*

Dressage: 22
Cross Country: 0+13.6
Total: 35.6
Place: 19

Nickel taps the first but it stays up. He jumps really well over the oxer at 3. They’re perfect through the double of doubles at 4 and 5. Spot on. Very nice over the triple bar at 9 and then they come down on the planks at 10 and there’s no chance of that staying up. Very clean over the two oxers with water trays at 11 and 12 and good through the double to finish. One down for 4 penalties.

Final score 39.6.

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🇮🇪 Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue*

Dressage: 29
Cross Country: 0+8
Total: 37
Place: 20

Salty gets a cheer from the crowd as he comes into the ring. He makes a lovely shape over the first and then gives the vertical at 2 plenty of space. A little touch behind at 3 but it stays. Austin works hard through the double of doubles at 4 and 5. All good. They come around to the white vertical at 8 and there’s another tiny tap but it stays up. A bit quick into the planks at 10 and they come down. A big rattle at 12 but they’re lucky. Good through the final double. One down for 4 penalties.

Final score 41.

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🇨🇳 Alex Hua Tian and Chicko

Dressage: 32.5
Cross Country: 0+4.8
Total: 37.3
Place: 21

Alex is riding as an individual for the People’s Republic of China so his score won’t impact the team standings.

Chicko looks well over the first few fences and Alex woahs him into the double at 4 and they’re careful there. They give the vertical at 7 plenty of space. Chicko’s jumping really well. They’re careful over the planks at 10 and then excellent through the tricky water tray fences. A tap at the final part of the double at 13 but it stays. Clear inside the time.

Final score 37.3.

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🇺🇸 Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker*

Dressage: 30.9
Cross Country: 0+6.4
Total: 37.3
Place: 22

Boyd comes into the first fence and they give it plenty of space. They’re a little low over the second but it stays. A tap at both parts of the double at 4 but the poles stay in the cups. They’re better through the double at 5. They roll back round to the white rails at 8 and are very good over that vertical. Planks stay up at 10. A tap of the yellow rails of the oxer over the water tray at 11. The horse is trying so hard. Clear through the double to finish. Clear inside the time. Big pats for Cooley Nutcracker.

Final score 37.3.

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🇸🇪 Frida Andersen and Box Leo*

Dressage: 32.2
Cross Country: 0+5.2
Total: 37.4
Place: 23

Another Swedish rider now. They tap the first but it remains in the cups. More careful at the third but there’s a wobble going into the double at 4 and the first part comes down. The horse looks strong. She gets him back though and they jump nicely after that mistake. They’re very good over the triple bar at 9 but then the planks at 10 go, and then so does the oxer with the water tray at 12. The first part of the double at 13 goes too. A little quick into there. 4 down for 16 penalties.

Final score 53.4.

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🇦🇺 Sophia Hill and Humble Glory*

Dressage: 37.6
Cross Country: 0+0
Total: 37.6
Place: 24

This pair had a great round yesterday, the first clear inside the time. They set out really well, easily clear of the first three fences, giving them lots of space. There’s a little rattle at the first part of the double at 4 but it stays up. He’s very careful over the vertical at 7. A little tap at 8 but all’s good. They come round to the last, a double of verticals, and they’re super careful there. Clear inside the time.

Final score 37.6.

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🇸🇪 Louise Romeike and Caspian 15*

Dressage: 35.3
Cross Country: 0+2.8
Total: 38.1
Place: 25

Louise canters into the ring to the applause of the crowd. This is it. We’re in for an exciting run, for sure.

Caspian looks a real picture. They come into the oxer at 1 and jump it really well. Round to the vertical at 2, no trouble there. There’s a double of doubles at 4 and 5, right along the stands but Caspian’s focused and jumping brilliantly. So much scope. He’s careful over the vertical at 7 and no worries at the planks at 10. There’s a difficult line through two water trays at 11 and 12 but they make it no problem. The final double stays up. Clear inside the time.

Final score 38.1.

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A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Scoring] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products

All Presented Horses Pass World Championships Final Horse Inspection (But Not Without Drama)

By on Aug 16, 2026 5:34 am -

Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Sunday horse inspections can be a tense affair, and at a major Championship the pressure rises exponentially. Following their big efforts on cross country yesterday, the hardworking grooms and care team for each horse spent a large portion of the evening on aftercare and recovery. Yesterday, standing at the mixed zone near the finish I was able to observe most of the horses coming home, and I was impressed that they largely looked fresh and fit for another run as they jumped the last.

This morning’s cool temperatures and packed grandstands yielded some spice, and our Final Horse Inspection was not without its drama, though all presented horses were ultimately accepted by the Ground Jury headed up by Anne-Mette Binder (DEN), Peter Gray (CAN) and Joanne Jarden (IRL).

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

First, a few withdrawals were noted on the leaderboard. Last night, both remaining Japanese horses (Vince de la Vigne JRA for Kento Nagura and Feroza Nieuwmoed for Ryuzo Kitajima) were withdrawn after cross country. This morning, a few more joined them. U.S. individual Tamie Smith opted to withdraw Molly Duda’s Lillet 3 after a fantastic cross country performance due to a “badly placed overreach,” Tamie posted on social media. Additionally, Carlos Parro (BRA) withdrew Safira and Daniel Dunst (AUT) withdrew Chevalier 97.

We did not see Nicolas Touzaint (FRA) present Diabolo Menthe at the jog, though initially he was not listed as withdrawn. This came later and he is now confirmed to be out of the competition. As of publication, there has been no statement made; we’ll update this post if there is one shared.

This withdrawal now eliminates France — placed sixth in team competition after cross country — and leaves them with two individual riders in Gaspard Maksud (Zaragoza) and Alexis Goury (Je’Vall). It’s worth a reminder that the top seven teams after today will earn a berth to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles; all others save the USA, the host nation, will subsequently need to find another path to qualify. Brazil (13th after cross country) and Austria (14th) are also eliminated from team competition with the withdrawal of Carlos Parro (BRA) and Daniel Dunst (AUT). Japan had already been eliminated with the fall of Toshiyuki Tanaka and Jefferson JRA.

Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

This morning, we also saw three horses sent to the holding box. Felix Vogg (SUI) was the first victim with Freida, who is 15th individually after cross country, and he was shortly thereafter joined in the hold by Germany’s Julia Krajewski with Uelzener’s Nickel. Both horses were later accepted upon re-presentation. Later, Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier was sent to the hold with Kiarado d’Arville, but she too was accepted on the next go.

Photo by Tilly Berendt.

So this leaves us with a total of 65 horses to see this afternoon in the grand finale. We’ll see the first 40 beginning at 1:00 pm CEST / 7 am EST, and that will be followed by the top 25 beginning at 3:30 CEST / 9:30 am EST. You can view the show jumping order of go here. Today’s jumping will be designed by Frank Rothenberger, who’s designing all show jumping for these World Championships and designs annually here at Aachen. He also was a course designer for the 2006 World Equestrian Games at this venue and has designed at major venues all over the world, so our eventers should be in for a proper challenge this afternoon. We’ll be bringing you a quick preview on our Instagram later today, so stay tuned.

A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Team Scores] [Live Scoring] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Nations Form Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products]

Sunday Links for Show Jumping Day

By on Aug 16, 2026 12:01 am -

What’s On at Aachen: Show Jumping Day
1:00 pm CEST / 7:00 am EST —  [Start Order & Ride Times]

For most riders here at Aachen this weekend, today has been years in the making, so scroll through a few stories from those who may not be gracing the podium this afternoon, but are fulfilling that senior championships dream for their country nonetheless.


Anyway, now that we’ve cleared all that dust from our eyes, let’s get ready for some show jumping. The EquiRatings team have been kind enough to break down yesterday for us in a format for the audio-favoring fans, so take a listen through the Saturday Aachen Diaries for some quick expert thoughts before the “big game” in the stadium today:

If you weren’t able to watch or follow along yesterday, read through Cheg’s Cross Country Day Action live blog for another exceptional live play-by-play of the cross-country leaderboard shakeup. And as ever, Tilly’s full Saturday report will put you right there on course (however clamoring it may seem) with the 80-odd riders and 35,000-odd bloodthirsty sports fans if you want a recap before sitting down to watch the stadium finale today.

Find all the important links in our Ultimate Guide, follow along with EN @goeventing to get behind-the-scenes interviews and updates, and watch this space for more news and interviews as we get ready to crown a new Eventing World Champion!

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Team Scores] [Live Scoring] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Nations Form Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products]

Other Major International Events This Weekend

Hartpury International & the British Championships CCI4*-S (GBR): [Website] [Tickets] [Schedule] [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [Live Stream]

Bromont Horse Trials CCI4*-S (CAN): [Website] [VIP Tickets] [Schedule] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [Watch – YouTube]

US Events This Weekend

Applewood Farm YEH, OEH & Mini Event (NJ): [Website] [Schedule] [Entries/Ride Times]

Caber Farm HT (WA): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer]

The Event at Archer (WY): [Website] [Schedule] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer] [CrossCountry App XC Map]

Genesee Valley Riding & Driving Club HT (NY): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer]

Waredaca Farm HT (MD): [Website] [Schedule] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer]

Ocala Summer HT II (FL): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer] [CrossCountry App XC Map]

River Glen Summer HT (TN): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring] [CrossCountry App XC Map]

Full Gallop Farm August HT (SC): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Volunteer] [CrossCountry App XC Map]

More Reading from Aachen:

Training Tip of the Day

Honestly… all the training we need today is just watching these two absolute powerhouse horse and rider combinations leaving it all out on the course. Call it magic, call it a masterclass, call it witchcraft? At the end of the (very long) day, they were just thrilling to watch:

Go Eventing

There was a surprise waiting for Laura Collett after her phenomenal cross-country round today — London 52’s German breeder, Ocke Riewerts, travelled all the way to Aachen to see ‘Dan’ compete on the world’s biggest stage:

Aachen, but Make It a Double: Michael Jung Tops Individual Leaderboard After Influential World Championships Cross Country Day

By on Aug 15, 2026 6:26 pm -

If you’ve never been to Aachen before, allow us to set the scene. There are 35,000 people crammed into a space the size of a singular loop of Badminton’s cross-country course; they are packed in like sardines, sweating and screaming and excited and so, so multilingual as they patronise their pretzel stands and quaff their morning Radlers. The German team supporters are, inexplicably, wearing t-shirts that have been typeset in Comic Sans, which somehow seems like the worst possible font choice for a sport that’s effectively the X Games with hooves – next year, we fear, they may have discovered webdings or, ugh, Papyrus.

Somehow, everywhere you look there is always an Australian, and the thing with Australians is that if you can see one, there’s definitely at least eight hiding nearby that you just haven’t found yet. To lure them out, you just need to use their mating call, heard time and time and time again over the course of the day:

“AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!” shouts one of them, somewhere, because maybe an Australian rider is coming by or maybe they’re just having a nice time.

“OY OY OY!” shout all the others, their curly-accented cries floating up through the trees.

The Germans do not know what to make of this, and more than once, I overhear one trying to get involved.

“Genau,” they murmur, eyes sparkling with wonderment. “Oy, oy, oy – genau.”

Photo by Tilly Berendt.

There is a fervent sense of barely-tempered chaos to it all. There’s a lone tampon hanging out just to the side of the course, which someone has unwrapped and left to expand in the little smattering of rain like a little white rat with a hormonal bloat; there’s a group of tipsy Germans who’ve sacked off the genau-ing and have instead taken up the fun and good hobby of screaming their heads off as their riders attempt to battle through the course’s toughest combinations. Stride, jump, scream, stride, scream, scream, jump, scream. It’s a lot, actually.

So is the wildfire that’s raging about fifty minutes away, which makes itself known halfway through the day’s cross-country when a thick plume of smoke settles itself into the atmosphere and turns the air an ashy yellow. My lungs do not feel so good right now! Nor does my increasing awareness of the very concept of cognitive dissonance!

I write this both in the middle of an existential crisis – uh oh, we’re focusing on horse sport when the world is literally on fire and this show contentiously used generative AI to promote itself and oh my god we really do dump so much water on cross-country courses when most of Europe is locked into water usage bans – but also in the middle of eavesdropping on a conversation between two Dutch journalists who are currently debating whether Tim and Jonelle Price are siblings. Aachen! You’ve gotta try it.

Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Anyway, the World Championships’ cross-country day. Let’s talk about that before the doom sets in or the ash settles in my alveoli.

Broadly, the consensus was that Giuseppe della Chiesa’s course had walked as fair but very, very exacting, with a trapped-in-the-tumble-dryer sort of twistiness that felt as though it could quickly become enormously mentally fatiguing.

That wasn’t necessarily disproven throughout the day, but the throughline of sentiment was a very positive one: rider after rider came back to the finish on fit, fresh, happy horses, and when they came to the mixed zone, it was to sing the praises of the course design.

It had, they agreed, had a flow and rhythm to it that hadn’t been totally apparent in their walks, and while it certainly caused its fair share of influence, it also offered such a wide array of options that it became a Choose Your Own Adventure to suit all comers.

From the earliest part of the day, though, it was plainly evident that little would remain the same on the leaderboard. While team pathfinders are chosen for their reliability – their role, of course, is to get home with a clear round and vital intel on the course’s tricks and traps for their teammates – many countries had to bid adieu to their first combinations after a series of mishaps.

 

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For New Zealand pathfinder and second-on-course Clarke Johnstone and Rocket Man it was a surprise nosebleed (for horse, not rider), which saw the pair pulled up by the ground jury just after fence 11 in an otherwise very good round. For France’s first-out Benjamin Massie and Figaro Fonroy it was a shock runout at the skinny A element of the Turkish Airlines quarry complex at 9ABC, which subsequently saw the gelding overbalance on the changing terrain and fall on the flat. For British pathfinders Gemma Stevens and Flash Cooley it was a stop, and then another two, at the influential white birch coffin combination at 8ABCDE, before hacking home. Belgium’s Senne Vervaecke and Google van Alsingen, like Gemma Stevens and indeed just moments before her, ran into trouble at the coffin complex too, picking up three refusals and ending their round at 9A.

And then there were the first-round riders that completed, but with expensive errors on their score sheets: Germany’s Libussa Lübbeke and Caramia FRH, who picked up 9 penalties for a flag at 11C; and Sweden’s ordinarily very consistent Sofia Sjoborg and Bryjamolga van het Marienshof Z, who lost a front shoe at just fence 6 and had a subsequent rare 20 penalties at 9B.

But amongst the orgy of gasping and sighing and gnashing of teeth from 35,000 people shoved into a square kilometre or so, there was also the chance to glimpse the sort of heroics that weave their way into a day of cross-country.

We’d wondered if perhaps the time would prove uncatchable today – at the CCIO4*-S that’s held here every summer, it’s a huge factor, and just a handful of competitors have ever caught it. A CCI4*-L ordinarily offers a different sort of speed test, opening the door for a galloping type with plenty of stamina to catch up on the clock, but that doesn’t really fly for a CCI4*-L track that barely travels outside the already tight confines of the CCIO4*-S course. This, instead, felt like two of the ‘normal’ Aachens shoved together. If nobody had caught the 9:50 optimum time, nobody would have been at all surprised.

But just five starts into our day, somebody did it. That was Australia’s pathfinder Sophia Hill, who’s known for her blistering speed with the ex-racehorse Humble Glory – but while they’ve racked up plenty of five-star miles together, both horse and rider were as-yet-untested in the unique intensity of a championship.

When they crossed the finish line with five seconds to spare, it felt as though the game could truly begin.

Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

And so the day progressed: for every five shocks and leaderboard plummets there’d be another couple of extraordinary career highs. There was the gutting moment when US second-out Caroline Pamukcu tumbled from HSH Blake at the Longines bank complex at 17ABCDE where they, like most of the rest of the US team, opted to go long, but left a leg and pitched on landing, ending an important round for the team and forcing Will Coleman and Boyd Martin to leave nothing on the table later in the day.

Kortawat Samran and B. Grimm Carouzo Bois Marotin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

But on the other side of the coin, there was an impeccable effort from Thailand’s Korntawat Samran, who demonstrated that he’s one of the sport’s most underrated riders when he added just 1.2 time penalties with B. Grimm Carouzo Bois Marotin.

There was the moment when Jonelle Price was stopped on course so the building team could fix a frangible device, but something went wrong in the communication of that stop and she was barely strides away from the fence when she had to pull out of it; there was the knock-on effect of that oddity when, just two fences from home, her mount Senor Crocodillo picked up 20 penalties after never quite regaining his flow and focus. But conversely, there was Switzerland’s Mélody Johner and the still inexperienced Erin blitzing their way to a clear inside the time, driving the developing nation to an overnight bronze medal position. Push and pull, back and forth, gasp and cheer all day long. It was, in short, a rather good day of sport.

Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

At its climax, we also have a new leader in Michael Jung and the eighteen-year-old fischerChipmunk FRH, who finished five seconds inside the optimum time in the gelding’s swansong championship to step up from overnight third, after dressage leaders and teammates Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel added 13.6 time penalties to slip to twentieth.

“I have no words,” says Michi, who pushed through a bad case of the Aachen lurgy to make his round today happen. “He’s an unbelievable horse. He’s full of energy, he’s galloping, he’s jumping. He was so well listening today, and was so lovely to ride. He has all the experience. It’s such an honor to have this horse.”

Although Michi’s late draw – he was, predictably, the German team anchor and went in the final group of the day – meant he was aware of many of the course’s quirks, he left the start box firmly sticking to plan A.

“There were no changes to the plan, because the ground was perfect and the conditions were perfect, so it wasn’t like we said, ‘oh, the ground is shit in this place and we need to have another strategy,’” he says, proving once again that other people’s problems are evidently none of his business.

“I watched many other riders, and we all had conversations about our strategy and the course and the horses, and then we all fought together and had a really good cross-country day,” says Michi.

Part of his strategy was to do as little as possible.

 “My horse is an older horse now, so I don’t do so many warm-up jumps because he also knows everything. I just need a good warm-up. At home he also doesn’t need cross-country or jumping training like a younger horse, but this is a bit the same with every horse. I think he’s an incredible horse; sometimes he can be a bit over-motivated, but today he was so nice to gallop at the start. I could loosen the reins and let the power out and have a super first jump into the cross-country, and that was a super start and a super feeling from the beginning.”

Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Haley Boothe / Impulsion Media.

Michi was one of several riders who had voiced some questions around the course yesterday but found himself convinced by it today – but even so, he maintained that besting the clock didn’t come easily at all.

“The time was quite difficult to plan,” he says. “In the beginning, I was good from the time. Then I was thinking, ‘ah, maybe I’m a bit too slow,’ and then ‘okay, the time was good,’ and then ‘I’m not sure.’ The time is not everything; you need to see the whole course, and that’s the difficult thing. If you go too fast in the beginning and you have no energy in the end, the last jumps get so difficult. Nearly everywhere you can have a mistake if you take too much risk or you’re going too fast. So the time is not everything, but the feeling into the horse and how he’s galloping, how he’s breathing, how he’s confident on the jumps, how much you can try. Sometimes it’s better to give the horse a few seconds to stay in a good balance, in a good feeling. Then in the end, I was fighting a bit more, and he was absolutely with me, and that’s a great feeling.”

Just one second swifter than Michi and Chipmunk were five-time five-star winners Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo, who won the European Championships in 2023 and come into this competition as one of three titans of the sport – all of which find themselves in podium positions going into Sunday.

That speedy, confident clear moves them into overnight silver medal position, up from the fourth place spot they occupied after putting a 23.4 on the board yesterday.

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“I’m quite relieved, to be honest,” says Ros, who was the day’s final finisher on cross-country. “It’s been a long wait today, and it’s a very, very intense track to ride. The Badmintons and the Burghleys feel a little bit easier for Walter because you can cruise along in between the fences, whereas today you have to go so fast in between and there doesn’t seem to be any space to go, because all of a sudden you’ve got another jump to jump.”

But, she continues, “what an amazing horse he is. He just absolutely loves it, doesn’t he? His ears are pricked and he just gives me the utmost confidence.”

Ros’s fast round came down, in part, to some last-minute self-discipline.

“I saw Tom [McEwen] kind of go the long route at the last corners and I had that in my mind – even coming out of the last water I was really, really tempted to go long because he just felt like he’d gone a little bit strung out. But then I was like, ‘for goodness’ sake, you haven’t come to the World Championships to wimp out of it! Get on with it; you’re on a good horse.’ I’m really pleased I made that decision.”

This is Walter’s first spin around Aachen; Ros, for her part, hasn’t been here since coming several years ago with her 2018 World Champion Allstar B. This time, she returns as the sport’s consummate multitasker: second child Seneh, who was born in late January, even took part in the show’s opening ceremony earlier this week.

“I’m still breastfeeding, and it’s [a lot to juggle], but I wouldn’t change it for the world,” says Ros. “I’m absolutely loving being able to combine the two, and I think it’s actually amazing just looking around the stables this week at how many children are involved in everybody’s teams now. It’s a proper family affair across all sports, and I’m not the only that’s just had a baby that’s going around the eventing. It’s fantastic to see that we can do both.”

Ros’s older daughter, seven-year-old Ziggy, is notable only by her (planned) absence this week.

“She’s stayed at home, because she’s a bit of a shopaholic and I think she’d have gone a bit mad in the shops here,” says Ros wryly. “She’s got a very packed itinerary, though, and she’s having a wonderful time. She had Pony Club camp yesterday and was very disappointed because she was in last place after dressage. She thought it was the judge’s fault, not hers, so she’s got a little bit to learn!”

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The third of those sporting titan pairings, Laura Collett and her European champion London 52, move from silver to bronze position after adding just 0.8 time penalties for two additional seconds on the clock – an addition that still puts them just six-tenths of a penalty behind our overnight leaders.

“That horse is just unbelievable,” she says. “He felt like he’d walked the course and knew what I was wanting him to do before I even got there. He gave me so much confidence from start to finish and never wavered off the line.”

They did, she admits, have “a bit of a scary moment, because he pulled a shoe and turning to the last water, he literally nearly was on his side. And I don’t know how he jumped quite a big fence into water, but he is just the most amazing horse. The ground looked very close at one stage, and I was like, ‘not on a turn!’”

Like Ros, Laura had to battle the urge to add an alternative route after teammate Tom did it so successfully earlier in the day.

“Obviously Tom went long at the last combination, and it was very tempting to play it safe. But I just thought, ‘you know what, this horse is on fire.’ He was reading everything, and he felt so with me that I could just trust him 100%, and I’m glad I did. I was always going long off the bank [at 17ABCDE, where most competitors opted for the long route] and then, having watched a few this morning, the three strides in that route just looked so short. Then Tom [went straight and] made it look so easy, and he said he felt like he had loads of time. So Chris [Bartle] grabbed hold of me and said, ‘go straight. I believe in you.’ The feeling I was getting, there was no reason to doubt him.”

Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tom, for his part, sits in fourth place after that speedy round with JL Dublin, despite taking the long route at the final combination. They added 2 time penalties to climb up one position, though their overnight score of 28.6 does leave a broad margin of five penalties between his current placing and a spot on the podium.

“I couldn’t be happier,” he says. “Dubs knows what he’s doing, but with the crowds and the people they all get excited, and it walks a decent track. It needs a lot of riding; you’ve got flags everywhere; the corners are skinny. But Dubs, for me, went brilliantly, and I just let him sail – never at one point did I think I was rushing.”

As he approached that late combination, “I was hoping to feel enough on top to go the direct route, but for me, he felt a bit like we were going away from home again, so I made the quick decision to go a bit lower and speed as quick as I could round the long route. With three in the team, the team comes first, and I thought I’d better just get that done and sorted.”

That sensible decision helps confirm the British hold on team gold overnight on a combined score of 75.6 – just shy of 15 penalties ahead of Germany in silver. The surprise decision to put the experienced Christoph Wahler and D’Accord FRH into Germany’s individual spot, rather than the team, might now feel rather frustrating; Christoph and the rangy gelding once again caught the time, crossing the finish line in a time of 9:41 to move up from 19th to fifth place.

Christoph Wahler and D’Accord FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“That’s his big talent: he’s the fastest horse I’ve ever been on,” says Christoph. “And if you can manage to jump the fences, and if the rider manages to find all the right ways, then he’s always going to make the time.”

But, he says, they nearly lost it at the eleventh hour when approaching the final water fence at the same time as another rider approached neighbouring fence three.

“I was a bit surprised with having a rider coming the opposite way, approaching fence three, when I was approaching the last water, directly when I was turning to the left to jump in. Then D’Accord looked to the right [at the horse] and lost sight of the fence.  Unfortunately, I lost my focus because of that, and then we had a very bad jump going in, lost our line, had to wiggle our way over the last skinny — that was a bit surprising. He was brilliant, though. He’s very big, but he’s got very fast footwork.”

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

US team anchor Will Coleman and his Kentucky five-star winner Diabolo needed to execute a clear round in as swift a time as possible after the shock fall of Caroline Pamukcu earlier in the day, and after yesterday’s sweltering dressage day, when the gelding never seemed to truly come to work, there was plenty of pressure to turn it all around today.

But if Will felt it, you would never have guessed from his riding, which remained relaxed, nurturing, and positive without being pushy. That helped ‘Dab’ come home two seconds inside the time, one of just six horse-and-rider partnerships to catch it all day. That moved the pair up from 21st to sixth, and moves the US team from sixth to fifth place going into the final day.

“He was amazing — he was better than the rider today,” says Will. “I give him all the credit; he’s an amazing horse. From the first jump out of the start box, I just felt like he was just totally on it and kind of felt like I couldn’t screw it up. I can’t say enough good things about him as a horse and as a partner. He’s just amazing.”

“I don’t know where [his energy] has been all week,” he continues. “He can be a pretty hot horse, but he’s been very quiet. It’s been driving my wife and [groom] Erin [Jarboe] pretty crazy, worrying about him, like ‘is something’s wrong with him? Do we think he’s all right?’”

 

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Today, in the slightly cooler temperatures, he was back at his best.

“He’s a really, really cool horse, and Aachen is a really intense cross country test. There’s places out there where I opened him up a little bit, and then I did sort of struggle to get him back the way I’m accustomed to. But it’s kind of that pace and that acceleration that I think he’ll get something out of doing this, and I think he’ll be better on these types of courses going forward. And so will I; I think I’ll have a better idea of how to ride him.”

Will holds the unique accolade of being the only US rider ever to win Aachen’s CCIO4*-L, which he did in 2022 with Off The Record. That, no doubt, played into the trust placed in his hands today, when the only option was excellence.

“There were no adjustments to the plan [after Caroline’s fall]. Karyn [Schuter] and Leslie [Law] trusted me to make good decisions out there. I told them I felt good about going the direct way off the bank, and they trusted me to do that so long as I felt like he was with me, and I did feel that. This is a team game, and I learned something from each and every one of those guys that went in front of me. Philip set us off on a great note with a fabulous round, and Caroline didn’t have the day that we all know she can have, but she still came back with a positive attitude and gave us all as much insight as she could give us, and has just been an excellent teammate every step of the way here. Tamie’s not with the squad, but doesn’t matter. She’s part of our team, and also has just been incredible all week. And Boyd kind of showed me the way to go. He gave our team a chance, and it’s kind of up to me to just try to bring us home a clear. And I was just really, really relieved that I did that.”

Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

France had been in bronze medal position after dressage but have slipped to overnight sixth after the elimination of Benjamin Massie and a surprise pin penalty for Nicolas Touzaint and Diabolo Menthe, but they finish the day with two riders in the top ten: team member Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza sit seventh, up from 16th after adding just 1.6 time penalties, while individuals Astier Nicolas and Alertamalib’or, like Christoph and D’Accord, made a point when adding just 0.8 time penalties to step up from 23rd to eighth.

“She’s such a good mare — she’s a proper five-star horse,” says Gaspard, who was sixth and best of the French at Pratoni in 2022 with Zaragoza. “It just shows how consistent she is now, and we’ve allowed her to mature a bit to the best of her ability. Wejust grew together, and now it’s just pure pleasure to just enjoy having a horse at that level because she’s getting older, so we just enjoy every second of it.”

Astier Nicolas and Alertamalib’Or. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Astier’s accomplishment in moving into the top ten is also paired with a unique achievement: he’s responsible for having produced four horses competing here this week. Beyond his own mount, there’s the stalwart Vinci de la Vigne, ridden by Kento Nagura, Baladin de l’Ocean LA, ridden by Turkey’s Kumru Say, and Boyd Martin’s Cooley Nutcracker, too.

“I’m proud to have produced them and a bit gutted not to ride them,” he says. “But you can’t get it all. Our job is to produce and bring on sale horses, so that’s what I do. But I’m pretty proud they do so well, and not only they’ve been competitive with me, but they’re produced in a way that allow other riders to follow them and do the top level.”

Mélody Johner and Erin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Switzerland, thanks in large part to leading rider Mélody Johner, finds itself in bronze medal position going into the final phase – a bid for a medal on the world stage that has felt so long in the making for the country. That Mélody’s clear inside the time comes with the relatively inexperienced Erin, rather than her former championship ride Toubleu du Rueire, also shows the depth in horsepower that’s beginning to develop through these riders’ strings – a heartening prospect for the future of Swiss eventing.

“He’s always fast, but here it was really special because he was really good, but not so strong,” says Mélody, who moved from 32nd place up to ninth. “I’m really little, and when he wants to go, sometimes I can’t slow down, but today he was really, really good. I don’t have to try to be fast; he has such a big canter stride, so even when we’re not pushing, he’s fast.”

Andrew Hoy and Vassily de Lassos. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Australia’s Andrew Hoy closes out the top ten after an excellent round with comeback king Vassily de Lassos saw them add just 4.8 time penalties, moving them from seventh to tenth but allowing Andrew to relive the rush of twenty years prior, when he was part of the team bronze medal at the 2006 World Championships here at Aachen.

“I think, in all honesty, could I have got the time? Yes. It’s about little things that I did that I could have done better,” muses Andrew, who carefully piloted Vassily home after the gelding lost a shoe around the seven-minute mark. “But Vassily is the most spectacular horse. I absolutely love my horse to bits. He makes me look really good, and to run round, I had to be on my A game all the way round. There was not one point, starting from when you leave the start line to when you get to the finish line, is there anywhere where you can say, ‘Oh, this is this is easy. I can now relax. ‘ It’s all the time, keeping the brain activated and really going.”

The team competition more broadly looks like quite a different landscape this evening: Great Britain in gold and Germany in silver is unchanged, but Switzerland’s climb to bronze feels like a huge moment, as does Australia’s drop to fourteenth after the non-completions of Oliver Barrett and Sam Woods. Japan, too, is out – they have no riders left in the competition at all after Toshiyuki Tanaka and Jefferson JRA’s non-completion and the post-cross-country withdrawal of both Kento Nagura and Ryuzo Kitajima. New Zealand, who were so close to a podium place in fourth last night, are now eighth with just three riders left in the hunt, while Sweden’s four completions allow them to climb from 12th to a slightly more promising seventh. Ireland’s excellent day in the office, with four clear rounds, pushes them from seventh to overnight fourth, just 3.6 penalties – less than a rail – behind Switzerland.

Editor’s Note – August 16: We have an update on Zinny, who was pulled up by Italy’s Paolo Torlonia just before the final fence after coming up lame. Paolo noticed immediately after the final combination and smartly pulled up to get off and check on the mare. On Sunday morning, Paolo posted the following on social media:

“Yesterday was a really tough day for us. 💔

Zinny was jumping an incredible clear round around the cross-country here in Aachen and gave it her all, over a very tough track.

Unfortunately, just after the last combination and only a few strides from the final fence, she didn’t feel right, so I got off as quickly as I could.

She’s comfortable and being looked after in the best possible way with Megan Hodder.

It’s obviously very disappointing to get so close to the finish and not complete, but my horses’ welfare will always come first. 🫶🏼

Zinny absolutely loves cross-country, and we had a great time out there yesterday. I’m incredibly proud of her and the round she jumped.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out and shown their support. It really means a lot. We will be back.”

The North America Debrief

Phillip Dutton and Denim. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The pressure was on for the USA to elevate their position after starting in sixth after dressage. After some team members delivered dressage scores that weren’t as strong as they hoped, the focus shifted to cross country, where the possibility to make up some ground was strong.

Confident that the weekend would not be a dressage competition, the US riders took the bit in their teeth for the challenge ahead. Phillip Dutton was tapped as the pathfinder, being one of the most experienced on the team. He was, however, on the most inexperienced horse on the team, having never done a five-star. To add, Denim (owned by Annie Jones, Ann Lapides, Caroline Moran and Neill Sites), isn’t the most naturally quick-footed horse in the world. He’d jumped around here at Aachen’s CCIO4*-S last year with a small amount of time, but this four-and-a-half-to-five-star level challenge would be one of the most intense tracks he’s seen to date. Phillip knew he’d need to ride smart to put a clear in the bank for his team.

“He doesn’t have a good high top speed, so I was just trying to keep it as even as I could all the way around,” he said. “The main priority was for me to get a clear round and put that in the bank, and then hopefully everybody can build on it from there. I was trying to help him out as much as I can. There was making up for his inexperience, but he’s a gutsy little horse and a beautiful jumper. And it doesn’t matter where he jumps from; those knees come up around his ears, and so looking back on it, it was fun. It’s not fun out there. But thinking about it now, it’s really rewarding.”

Phillip added 12.4 time penalties, keeping near his EquiRatings average of 13.5 with this horse, to go onto a two-phase score of 45.0 and individual 33rd place. The clear round set the tone for the US riders, who next sent out Paris Olympian Caroline Pamukcu with Mollie Hoff and Sherrie Martin’s HSH Blake. But despite a solid round for the first two-thirds, everything changed at fence 17, the Longines Challenge.

It was a mixed bag of whether riders chose to jump left or right off of this drop; going right put them onto the direct route, going left gave them two alternate options. Caroline went long here, but ran out of power at the CD element and was jarred out of the saddle when Blake hung a leg and had to scramble to right himself on the landing side. It was a gutting result for Caroline, who’d come into this week on fire form.

This upped the pressure and put the US into an Olympic-like situation, in which only three team members remained with no drop score. Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker as well as Will Coleman and Diabolo needed clear rounds to stay in contention.

They delivered.

Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

In team competition, strategy is key. While every team operates a little differently, it remains constant that if a team member has an issue, plans and marching orders change accordingly. For Boyd, who was third in the rotation, this meant an adjustment of one plan in particular.

“I was actually all set to go the harder way [at the Longines Challenge bank], but with Caroline crashing before I started, we had a meeting, and they said it’s safer to go the long way, just because we need to go home clear,” Boyd said. “And you got to listen to coaches and very respectful of their decision. But I’d been visualizing the right side, and talking it through with Peter. It’s a little bit slower, but in the end of the day, I feel like we needed a clear around so Will could give it a good crack.”

When riding for themselves, the goal can change — you can chase the time, assume your own risks. But the team comes first in this format, and while Boyd could have gotten home a few seconds quicker had he gone straight at the bank, he also knew “Bali” wasn’t the easiest to turn left (which this question necessitated), and a more serious issue — one that would have effectively ended the US bid for the podium — could have been avoided here.

We wrote earlier about Will’s banner day with Diabolo, coming home clear inside the time to become the highest-placed US rider in the field. Just before him, it was the turn of individual rider Tamie Smith and Molly Duda’s Lillet 3. Tamie and Lillet could well have been on this team in the first place, but there was a bit of a question mark in terms of the mare’s experience.

Tamie Smith and Lillet 3. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

She answered that question in emphatic fashion today.

“It was fast and furious and I found out a lot about her – it felt incredible,” Tamie said. “It was the unknown. I rode her like she was a seasoned horse and she acted like one.”

Tamie noted that she opted for a couple of alternates out of care for her horse, and understanding where she was in her career at just 10 years old. “Once I got through the first water, she was just like ‘I got it,’” she said. “I took the long way at the bank and the option at the end just because we don’t know what she knows and I didn’t want to risk anything, but even still a fast round and she fought all the way to the end. What a horse.”

Tamie now sits on a score of 35.0 and is in 18th individually with potentially to move up significantly with a horse who’s a strong show jumper.

 

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For Canada, Jessie Phoenix enjoyed the ride of her life aboard the 18-year-old Fluorescent Adolescent (owned by Sharon Hall and Makayla Rydzik) — a “gangbusters” round, as she puts it. “She just fought so hard all the way around, had a beautiful easy gallop and just made it feel effortless. I really thought she was well-suited to this course. She’s so good on twisty terrain, when you don’t have a lot of strides to pick up the distances and see the flags, Lacey is the one you want to be on. She’s so quick-thinking and she really fights to get between the flags.”

With 12 time added, Jessie goes onto a two-phase score of 47.1 and will be in 36th overnight.

Now, we’ve just got one final hurrah between our field of 65 remaining competitors and the medals. First up will be the final horse inspection, set to take place at 9.30 a.m. local time (8.30 a.m. BST/3.30 a.m. EST) tomorrow morning, followed by showjumping from 1.00 p.m. (12.00 p.m. BST/7.00 a.m. EST). The final group will jump from 3.30 p.m. (2.30 p.m. BST/9.30 a.m. EST). We’ll be back with all the stories you need to know, so keep it locked on EN and as always, Go Eventing!

A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Team Scores] [Live Scoring] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Nations Form Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products]

Cross Country Day Action at the FEI World Championships: Live Blog

By on Aug 15, 2026 2:57 am -

An extra test for horses at Aachen is resisting stopping for a snack at this fence. Photo via CrossCountry App.

We’re in for a day of world-class cross country action coming at us from Aachen as the second phase of the eventing competition at the World Championships plays out.

The field is a fierce one, heralded as the best quality we’ve ever seen, with winners of all the major championships lining up as well as 16 of the world’s top-20 ranked riders. Not only are there multiple individuals well-fancied for the crown, but the competition for taking the team spoils is hot too. According to EquiRatings, Britain is the favorite to retain the title, but it’s a home advantage to Germany and nothing is a foregone conclusion, especially not in this game. No doubt about it, the sport today is high stakes stuff, and I’ve got you covered with all the action as it happens coming right at you in EN’s classic live blog right here.

Before that though, a quick catch up on where things stand following the dressage phase. It’s tight at the top, and all the way through, both for the teams and the individuals, with just two seconds of cross country time between team gold and silver and 0.3 separating bronze from 4th place, and a single penalty covering the individual podium with 0.4 separating individual bronze from 4th.

1️⃣ 🇩🇪 Starting off their Championships in style with an exceptional test between the white boards is Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel who laid it all down and then some in the dressage ring to sit on a score of 22.

2️⃣ 🇬🇧 Very much in the mix is Laura Collett and London 52 who delivered an (almost) equally exceptional test in the first phase for a score of 22.8.

3️⃣ 🇩🇪 Rounding out the podium placings is Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH who made their mark on the competition with a score of 23.

You’ll find the full scoreboard right here.

And here’s a taste of the team podium at this point in proceedings:

🥇 🇬🇧 Great Britain head the field on a score of 72.8.

🥈 🇩🇪 Germany are chasing them down on a score of 73.6.

🥉 🇫🇷 France are in bronze on a score of 84.5.

🇳🇿 New Zealand are just 0.3 off the podium as things stand, on a score of 84.8.

You’ll find the full team standings here.

The live blog will begin when the first horse and rider combo leave the start box, so whilst we await the first countdown of the day, here’s some links for your perusal:

▶️ For absolutely everything about the competition this week, including schedules, reports, how to keep up with what’s going on and allsorts more, be sure to bookmark our ‘Ultimate Guide’ which is positively brimming with all the deets.

▶️ Follow along with the form with EN’s guide to the nations here.

▶️ Take a look at today’s track and see what the riders have to say about it with our Course Preview and see each fence up close and personal on CrossCountry App here.

▶️ Want to catch up on what’s been going on? We’ve got the ticket. Check out live blog of what went down in the dressage: [Thursday] [Friday]

▶️ And you’ll find EN’s classic daily reports from the first two days of competition here: [Day One] [Day Two]

And that’s not all – there’s also shenanigans happening over on our Instagram channel @goeventing – follow along here.

With all that said, a little ‘refresher’ on the no. 1 rule of following EN’s classic live blog: refresh, refresh, refresh – and all will be revealed.

If you’re catching up with this later and are the type to like things in order, scroll ⬇️ and read ⬆️. If going backwards is more your jam, have at it.

We’re counting down to kick off – the first horse and rider pair are due to go at 9:15am CEST / 3:15am EST.

Eyes on, and go eventing!

A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Scoring] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products

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10:45

SUMMARY OF THE DAY’S SPORT

Keep it locked onto EN for our classic full report – coming as soon as our boots on the ground have wrangled the riders and tracked down our legendary chinchilla mascot who’s likely schmoozing somewhere amongst the hospitality offering.

Until then, here’s a rapid update of the action on today’s cross country:

1️⃣ 🇩🇪 Leading the pack and in gold medal position is Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH who delivered a classically classy clear inside the time to land on their superb dressage score of 23, 0.4 penalties ahead of silver – in show jumping terms that’s just a single second.

2️⃣ 🇬🇧 Sitting in the silver spot is Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo who once more showed what they’re made of with a smooth clear inside the time to stay on their dressage score of 23.4.

3️⃣ 🇬🇧 Just 0.2 penalties behind second place (so not even a single second), currently on the bronze step of the podium is Laura Collett and London 52 who added just 0.8 to their dressage score and are on 23.6.

4️⃣ 🇬🇧 Heading into the final phase and just off the podium after today’s cross country is Tom McEwen and JL Dublin who added just 2 penalties to their dressage score and go into the final phase on a score of 28.6, 5 points off the medal placings, giving Laura a fence in hand.

5️⃣ 🇩🇪 Christoph Wahler had a great round with D’accord FRH, climbing the leaderboard from 19th to 5th after going clear inside the time and ending up on their dressage score of 29.4.

🇺🇸 Best of the US is Will Coleman and Diabolo who posted a great clear inside the time to sit in 6th place on a score of 30.

You’ll find the full scoreboard right here.

In terms of the team competition, it’s been a day of ups and downs and a whole lot of action which will be dissected in our full report. No change for the top two, but the rest of the pack have been shook up like a Boggle cube.

Here’s what the podium looks like:

🥇 🇬🇧 Great Britain head the field with three riders home for a total score of 75.6.

🥈 🇩🇪 Germany are in silver with four riders home on a combined score of 90.4.

🥉 🇨🇭 Switzerland have jumped up into bronze, with three riders home for a total score of 106.5.

🇺🇸 The USA are in 5th place on a score of 112.3.

You’ll find the full team standings here.

Whilst we have individuals vying for World glory and teams duking it out for the ultimate prize, eventing is about so much more than those at the top of the scoreboard and there are stories to tell from throughout the field. Here’s some points of note from today’s competition:

▶️ 65 combinations completed cross country from 85 starters, representing 27 countries. 18 combinations were eliminated on course and 2 opted to retire from the competition. Jumping penalties came at 13 different fences, missed flags at 3 fences and broken frangible devices at 4 fences. The final element of the coffin complex at 8 and the skinny triple brush at 9A were the most influential in terms of jumping penalties. There were 10 falls in total.

⏰ Time After Time After Time After Time – 6 combinations made the time:

Christoph Wahler and D’accord FRH were 9 seconds inside.

Melody Johner and Erin were 6 seconds inside.

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo were 6 seconds inside.

Sophia Hill and Humble Glory were 5 seconds inside.

Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH were 5 seconds inside.

Will Coleman and Diabolo were 2 seconds inside.

👌 53 combinations jumped clear, 4 had frangible penalties (one combination had two frangible penalties) and 2 flag penalties were upheld – Libussa Lubbeke and Caramia FRH and Peter T. Flarup and H. Carald Z, although Peter was later eliminated for a fall of rider.

🪜 Leaderboard climbers are one of the unique features of our sport, and we had a fair few in the ascendency today, here’s some of them:

Melody Johner and Erin put the cat among the pigeons when they clawed their way up 23 places into 9th place.

Jillian Giessen and Seattle Park galloped their way up 34 places into 16th place.

Korntawat Samran and B.Grimm Carouzo Bois Marotin jumped 33 places into 19th place.

Sophia Hill and Humble Glory rocketed themselves 43 places up the board into 25th place.

Louise Romeike and Caspian 15 propelled themselves 34 places up the board into 26th place.

Axel Lindberg and Quelle Bonne leaped 48 places up the board into 27th place.

⭐ Winning at the World Championships isn’t always about well, winning. Here’s some rounds of note, although honestly, there were so many:

🪩 Andrew Hoy and Vassily de Lassos had an absolute ball out there. That horse just loves Aachen

🍑 Astier Nicolas and Alertamalib’Or had a real peach of a ride.

🎞️ Caroline Harris and D. Day had a round truly worthy of the highlight reel, jumping themselves into the top 15.

🐻 Aoife Clarke and Full Monty de Lacense had their eyes on the flags like a bear for a salmon and put themselves just outside the top 10.

🍕 Alex Hua Tian and Chicko’s performance was clean enough to eat your dinner off. #

Not everyone can have the best day, that’s sport. There were some tricky moments out there, and some disappointments:

🦆 Maarten Boon and Gravin van Cantos got a bit of a ducking at the final water and had a wet walk home.

🛀 Toshiyuki Tanaka and Jefferson JRA took an an early bath at the first water.

💔 Nadja Minder and Top Job’s Jalisco had a very tricky time in the dressage and fared no better today with an early exit at fence 8.

💔 Gemma Stevens and Flash Cooley were out at 8 too, with a really surprising two stops and Gemma having no real choice but to put her hand up.

🤦 Daniel Dunst and Chevalier 97, the day’s trailblazers gave us a taste of how tricky the final combination, and penultimate fence, was going to be with a late 20 coming their way.

🤦‍♀️ Jonelle Price and Senor Crocodillo showed just how disappointing things can be on cross country with an expensive 20 penalties so close to home.

🤦 Kento Nagura and Vince de la Vigne were another combination to pick up penalties one out from the finish.

🤦 Sam Woods and SS Eight Count were so close to a completion but parted company just one from home.

All this, and much, much more, in vivid detail below in the live blog. If you want to relive the day according to the order of go, scroll ⬇️ and read ⬆️. If going backwards is more your jam, have at it.

What. A. Day.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, the new World Champion will be crowned.

The show jumping phase is due to start at 12pm CEST / 7am EST with the second group going at 2:30pm CEST / 9:30am EST.

I’ll be back with a live blog covering the finale – don’t miss it!

Thanks for following along today. I may no longer have fingerprints but it’s worth it for an epic day of cross country.

Eyes on EN for a full report – coming soon.

Go eventing!

A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Scoring] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products

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9:48

STAY TUNED FOR A RAPID UPDATE OF THE DAY’S SPORT HEADED YOUR WAY SHORTLY.

Keep hitting that refresh button – more horsing around coming up very soon when I’ll update you with the individual and team standings and deliver a quick summary of the sport we’ve seen today.

via GIPHY

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9:40

FINAL COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇹 Vitoria Pannizon and DHI Jackpot*

Dressage Score: 32.9
Place: 47=

Sadly we first see Vitoria as she has trouble at the combination at 9. They don’t have the stride and there’s no way of making it over the B element. She comes back round and continues on but that’s an early 20. There’s more troubles when she appears to have a missed jump at 9 and she ends up being pulled up by the Ground Jury.

Ros is spot on the clock as she comes to the water at 13. There’s a little drift and the flag comes down over the cover at the final element. A question mark comes up on the live scores. And then it goes again. The British flags are out in force in the crowd. Walter looks completely comfortable as he gallops along, eating up the ground. They don’t make jumps big enough for this guy. It’s all so easy. They’re super neat through the complex at 24. Walter’s ears are pricked as he makes his way through the final water at 25. Can they make the time? Maybe…

Lara is having a great ride as she comes through the final water at 25. The crowd are clapping her home. She’s over the time. She comes straight through the angled brushes at 27, Lara working hard to hold the horse there. Over the last. Clear jumping, 12.4 time.

Ros is straight and Walter is locked on and there’s no question at the angled brushes at 27. They’re over the last. And through the flags. CLEAR INSIDE THE TIME!!! Classic Ros. Classic Walter. The crowd acknowledges a brilliant round. They’re in 2nd. Team GB’s in gold.

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9:36

PENULTIMATE COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇬🇧 Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo*

Dressage Score: 23.4
Place: 4

They came into today just one second of cross country time off the podium. She can’t go into the lead, but if she’s inside the time she’ll go into second.

Walter looks easy as you like at the start of the course, galloping along effortlessly and totally focused on the job in hand. They waste not a single fraction of a second at the first combination at 5.

Lara’s also galloping along, really covering the ground. She’s headed for the combination at 17. They trot into the drop and then loop round the longer route, giving the horse a little more time to read the questions in front of him.

We finally get to see Sanne as they opt for the long route at the penultimate fence, 27. Enjoy slips a little on the turn but they make it round and over the last. They finish up clear jumping, 36.4 time.

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9:33

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇧🇪 Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and Kiarado d’Arville*

Dressage Score: 33.2
Place: 44

Lara gets her horse back for the first combination at 5 and then it’s foot down and full gallop onto the next fence. They got the slightly longer route at the two skinny brushes at 9 and then make their way towards the first way. They’re very quick in, quite brave, and brilliant.

We finally see Frida as she makes her way neatly through the final combination at 27 and then she sees a big one to the last. They cross the line, clear jumping, 5.2 time.

Sanne is showing on the live scores as clear through fence 21.

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9:29

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇳🇱 Sanne de Jong and Enjoy*

Dressage Score: 37.5
Place: 67

Sanne starts out her round and is clear through the first few. The feed’s obviously focusing on Michael though.

Frida has a flag question at 17B showing on the live scores, we’re still not seeing her on the feed.

The crowd goes wild as Michael comes into sight of the finish. He’s CLEAR INSIDE THE TIME!!! INTO THE LEAD!!! Michael’s really showing a lot of emotion. Wooo, he shouts and he’s grinning. He looks like he enjoyed that. What a superb competitor he is. And what a horse. Totally smooth and totally focused and not a single second when things didn’t look a dead cert. Fabulous sport.

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9:25

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇸🇪 Frida Andersen and Box Leo*

Dressage Score: 32.2
Place: 35

We’re into the final five combinations to go now.

We don’t see Frida start her round, sorry, but the live scores are showing her as clear through fence 12.

Felix heads for home, taking the direct route through the combination at 27, luckily aiming for the far left at the A element as the horse drifts right, but they’re through the flags. The finish line is crowded and there’s loads of noise for Felix as he crosses the line. Clear jumping, 5.2 time.

Meanwhile Michael continues to elicit huge cheers as he gallops on by. He’s superb through the combination at 17and sees a big one to the table at 21, brave but brilliant. They’re flying. He accelerates away from the fences. An overreach boot flies off. Gosh, there’ll be a scramble for that from the onlookers.

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9:20

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇩🇪 Michael Jung and FischerChipmunk FRH*

Dressage Score: 23
Place: 3

The Olympic champions were 3rd after dressage but are riding for the top spot. He has one second in hand over Laura Collett who’s been round and is in the lead.

The crowds are understandably incredibly supportive for these heroes of German eventing as they get going. They’re very quickly through the first combination at 5 and the crowd continues their enthusiastic support. There’s silence as they navigate the coffin at 8. Predictably neat and tidy there.

They go the slightly longer route at the combination at 9. They’re quick though. The crowd are really quiet as they make their way through the first water at 11 before the cheers erupt as they head on out. So smooth, so quick, so flowing. No question. Perfection.

Meanwhile Felix is clear up to the combination at 24, where they’re very neat. They’re headed toward home now.

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9:16

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇨🇭 Felix Vogg and Frieda*

Dressage Score: 29.3
Place: 16=

Felix is clear through fence 10 and is headed for the first water at 11. There’s total focus on his face and he hugs the red flag over the corner coming out, no risk of missing the white one there.

Nicolas is showing on the live scores as having had a frangible penalty at 24C. We watch him through the water at 25 and they make a good job of things before going right along the lefthand side of the two angled brushes at 27, taking no chances there. Lots of pats for this great horse at the end of their round. 11 penalties for the pin, 10.4 time.

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9:09

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇫🇷 Nicolas Tousaint and Diabolo Menthe*

Dressage Score: 26.7
Place: 6

Nicolas hits the sweet spot through the first water at 11. The horse travels along so effortlessly. His ear flicks back to Nicolas and then forward to the flags. They get a big jump into the water at 13 and then hit the corner coming out perfectly, right in the middle, no question at all. They’re good on the clock. Lots of claps for Nicolas as he makes his way along the track. They get a bit close to the table at 22 but Nicolas sits up and they gallop on.

Marcio makes his way through the direct route at 27 and then clears the last. He looks thrilled with his horse, lots of pats going on. Clear jumping 24.4 time.

Padraig’s horse looks very much within himself as he flies the stick pile at 16. He’s good on the clock at this point on the course. They’re brave off the step at 17 and then get a great line through the two brushes, the horse totally locking on and doing the job. We see him coming to the final combination at the penultimate fence at 27 and then cross the finish line with a big smile on Padraig’s fence. There’s a flag question from 24B, 7.6 time.

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9:04

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇪 Padraig McCarthy and MGH Zabaione*

Dressage Score: 32.8
Place: 41

Padraig gives his horse a pat after the combination at 9. That’s nice to see. He’s very slick through the line in the water at 11. This is a young horse but he looks up for the job, for sure. He’s looking for the fences and seems very confident.

Marcio’s showing as clear through fence 23 on the live scores.

Andrew’s a bit low over the house at 24A but they’re very fast through the two corners at B and C. Andrew kicks the flag out but it looks to be fine. They’re headed for home now and Vassily still has his ears pricks. “Aussie Aussie Aussie” cheers him home. They’re beautifully straight through the final combination at 27, a real technician at work. They cross the line. 4.8 time. Andrew gives Vassily a round of applause. Sob.

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9am

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇧🇷 Marcio Carvalho Jorge and Royal Encounter*

Dressage Score: 31.2
Place: 27

Marcio’s quick through the first combination at 5 and looks to mean business. The horse has a really good gallop. Marcio gets him back for the coffin at 8 and he really gives this young horse an excellent ride through there. He has to work hard at the first water at 11, landing a bit short and having to push for the stride. But the horse responds. Good partnership on show there.

Andrew makes a great job of the combination at 17, going the straight route and doing it neatly.

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8:57

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇦🇺 Andrew Hoy and Vassily de Lassos*

Dressage Score: 26.9
Place: 7

Just ten combinations to come after Andrew.

This is an exciting round, such an experienced pairing and we know how much Vassily loves Aachen. They are so neat through the coffin at 8, so athletic and pony-like. He opts for the slightly longer route at the two skinny brushes at 9 but don’t waste any time. Ooo, Vassily has a look into the ditch at 10 but they stretch and make it over the brush there. Superb thorough the first water at 11.

Will comes to the final combination at 27. They take the flag at the A element but look to be OK. They fly the finale and cross the line. There’s cheers and clapping from the crowd. They’re carrying a flag question but it’ INSIDE THE TIME!!!

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8:52

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇯🇵 Toshiyuki Tanaka and Jefferson JRA*

Dressage Score: 31.4
Place: 30=

Toshi seems to be having a good round as we pick him up over the ditch and brush at 10 but then he doesn’t have a stride coming to the corner in the water at 11C, the horse hits it and Toshi flies on over for an early bath. They’re both wet but on their feet. A disappointing end to their competition.

Will slightly loses Diabolo’s shoulder at the corner coming out of the water complex at 13 but he holds him in. The flag goes but it looks to be OK. Dab is super nimble and clever with his feet through there.

Tim’s headed for home and there’s a heart in mouth moment in the final combination at 27. They take the flag at the A element and then swing out some, but Tim’s made of solid muscle and he manages to hold him in. There’s a question mark on that flag though. He completes with 8.4 time.

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8:48

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇺🇸 Will Coleman and Diabolo*

Dressage Score: 30
Place: 21

The pressure’s on Will as the anchorman for Team USA. They’re a team of three now so his score will count. But he’s a total pro and this horse is a proven cross country horse having won Kentucky. They set off quick and look to be well up for the challenge.

Lea’s nearing home now. She’s careful into the final combination and takes no chance whatsoever, well inside the flags. A superb showing from both horse and rider. She looks very pleased with her horse. Austrian flags are flying in the crowd. The horse looks to have finished really well, he looks great as he trots off. 18.4 time.

Meanwhile Tim gets Falco back for the tables at 21 and 22 before galloping off towards the final water. All looking good for the Kiwi pair.

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8:44

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇳🇿 Tim Price and Falco*

Dressage Score: 33.7
Place: 49

They didn’t have the dressage they’d have liked but this horse is a phenomenal cross country jumper and they’ll be looking at a big leaderboard leap today. They sure look good as they get their round underway, as confident as we’d expect from the World No. 1 and his 5* winner.

Lea’s having a peach of a ride as she comes to the complex at 17. They’re smooth off the step at A and then very clean through the direct route through the two skinny brushes. There’s umbrellas up in the crowd. The horse is super focused, ears pricked and galloping very easily. Exciting stuff from this talented rider.

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8:40

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇦🇹 Lea Siegl and Watermill Georgio RS*

Dressage Score: 29.2
Place: 15

This is it, the final rider rotation for the teams.

Lea’s horse is keen at the start and she has to take a pull to the second. The horse is looking at the crowd a little but she gets his focus and they navigate the first combination at 5 neatly. It’s raining in Aachen as Lea makes her way through the water at 11. They’ve really settled into their round and make a good job of things through there.

Tamie’s heading for home now. They’re a bit squiggly through the final combination at 27 and question marks come up for both A and B there, but they’ll be reviewed. They cross the line with 8 time penalties. I’ll update you on the flags.

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8:33

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇺🇸 Tamra Smith and Lillet 3

Dressage Score: 27
Place: 8

We don’t get to see much of Tamie’s round in the early stages but we pick her up as she comes to the water at 13. They’re bold in over the hanging log and they get the stride to the duck on the island. They’re very good to the corner at the C element. Over they go and along the track. They’re neat through the owl hole at 15. They opt for the slightly longer at 17 and the mare really answers the questions there. Looking good.

Ooo, Christoph’s squirrelly over the first element at 27 but they’re through the flags. They cross the line. The German flags are out in force at the finish and they erupt. CLEAR INSIDE THE TIME!!! FASTEST ROUND OF THE DAY!!! 9 SECONDS INSIDE!!! He goes into third.

Astier continues his lovely round and there’s tricolors flying in the crowd as he passes. He’s quick through the final combination and then he crosses the line just two seconds over, 0.8 penalties. Lots of pats for this lovely horse. A really brilliant round from both horse and rider.

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8:28

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇫🇷 Astier Nicolas and Alertamalib’or

Dressage Score: 30.3
Place: 23

Astier’s horse shows just what a great jumper he is over the first few fences with lots of cheering from the crowd. The horse is superb through the first water at 11 and Astier rides in beautiful balance. Really lovely work.

Meanwhile Christoph is good on the clock as he comes to the drop at 17. He slices through the direct route. This horse is relishing her job today, eating up the course. The German crowd is clapping him along and the mare is moving on between fences. They come round to the boat at 23 and then Christoph’s careful rolling round the corner, taking no chances of a slip. They gallop on to the village combination at 24.

Georgie crosses the line with Kojak, clear jumping, 12 time.

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8:24

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇩🇪 Christoph Wahler and D’accord FRH

Dressage Score: 29.4
Place: 19

This is a quick horse and a quick rider. The German crowd cheer for their individual rider. He’s set off like he’s going for the clock, that’s for sure. They’re very fast through the first combination at 5. They get in close to the corner in the water at C but fly on over.

Caroline’s through the final combination and over the finale. The crowd cheer as they cross the line. 1.2 time for them. Superb. Huge smiles from Caroline.

Georgie is showing on the live scores as clear through fence 23.

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8:20

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇪 Georgie Goss and Kojak

Dressage Score: 31
Place: 26

Kojak’s got his ears pricked and eats up the ground as he makes his way over the first few fences. This is an exciting cross country horse. They’re great through the first combination at 5, very slick. He gallops so easily, really great to see. They’re neat through the skinny brushes at 9 too.

Caroline goes the quick route through the combination at 17, really making it happen.

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8:17

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇬🇧 Caroline Harris and D. Day

Dressage Score: 32.6
Place: 38

Caroline’s going a great gallop as she makes her way towards the coffin at 8. They’re very quick on the way in there, she really trusts her horse and she’s right to, he responds. Wow. They’re more cautious at the combination at 9. And off they run. They’re very neat through the water at 11.

Andrea takes the long route at 27 and then finishes the course. There’s still a question mark for him though so I’ll update the score when I know more.

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8:13

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇳 Fouaad Mirza and Mokatoo

Dressage Score: 39.6
Place: 77

Fouaad gets off to a good start, the horse looks keen and they get into a good rhythm early on. He goes the direct route at the coffin at 8 and it’s quite sticky. Fouaad does a really good job to stay in the tack there. He loses his stirrup. But they’re through. Heart in the mouth stuff there.

Sadly we then see him on the ground. He’s had a tumble at 9A but is on his feet.

Andrea’s showing as having missed a jump at 17 on the live scores. They had a 20 and then seem to have picked up an error of course as they navigated that. But they’ve continued on, so I’ll update you as I know more. OK, so it’s updated to a question mark. I’ll keep an eye on it.

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8:04

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇹 Andrea Cincinnati and Cecilia Lad*

Dressage Score: 34.1
Place: 51

Andrea finishes up the third rider rotation for the teams. There are scores on the board, but drop scores to be considered with most teams having a fourth rider. I’ll bring you updates as I can and confirm the team standings at the end – stay tuned.

Andrea’s horse has her ears pricked as she picks out the first few fences. But she’s very strong at the combination at 9. They drive straight by, no chance for Andrea to do anything about that. He manages to coax her back round and they jump through the alternative. An early 20 for them. They opt for the slightly longer option at the water at 13 but are clean through there.

Massive cheers for Laura as she comes out of the water at 25. She’s OK on the clock, a little down but not too much. Focus on the final combination now. She takes zero risk. They drive for the finale. They’re over the line. Laura’s punching the air. Just two seconds over. 0.8 penalties. We’re used to fabulous rounds from this pair but in this situation, under this pressure, with the time hanging over her, just awesome work from Laura and what a horse this is. She goes into the lead.

Update on Karin’s time – 18.8.

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7:56

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇬🇧 Laura Collett and London 52*

Dressage Score: 22.8
Place: 2

Laura and London 52 come into today in 2nd after the dressage and don’t have a single time penalty in hand over third place. There’s plenty of pressure on this pair now Britain are down to three.

She looks super focused as she makes her way through the first combination at 5. They give the rail a little rub in front coming into the coffin at 8 but Laura sits tight and London 52 knows his job. They commit through the double of skinny triple brushes at 9, not on the perfect stride but making it happen. Super smooth through the water at 11. No question for them at the corner at 13C, totally straight through there. Excellent. They go the quick route at 17, spot on.

Karin continues to go well as we join her at the boat in the water at 23. She’s crouched low as she gallops round to the village combination at 24 where she opts to go long. This looks to be a fun round for them, the horse is giving her everything. She rides with all she’s got at the combination at 27, holding the horse on the line and then galloping for the last. Great stuff, what a ride. I don’t have a time for them right now but I’ll update you when I do.

Jillian goes direct through the final combination at 27 and they cross the line to big cheers from the Dutch supporters at the finish. They’ve been really quick. Just two seconds over for 0.8 penalties. Two flag questions being reviewed.

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7:53

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇧🇪 Karin Donkers and Leipheimer van’t Verahof*

Dressage Score: 31.7
Place: 34

Karin really makes things happen through the combination at 9. They come really boldly into the water and the horse is really responding to her. They’re foot perfect through there.

Eek, Louise adds a stride in the double of angled brushes at 27 and just about squeaks it in. She holds the line and they’re clear, over the last and delighted to cross the line. Clear jumping and just 2.8 time for them. A fabulous round.

Jillian’s picked up a further flag question at the final element of 17.

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7:48

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇳🇱 Jillian Giessen and Seattle Park*

Dressage Score: 33.9
Place: 50

Jillian’s going at a great gallop on this Thoroughbred, really brave and bold to the fences. She’s clear through fence 14 but there’s a flag question at 11C.

Huge cheers for Julia as she goes through the water at 23 and the fans are clapping her along. She opts for the quick route through the village complex at 24 but there’s no question for them at the corners at B and C, they’re so together and focused and so, so good. They make all this look so easy.

They’re on the time, the penalties are clocking up. They come to the penultimate fence and go straight through there. Over the last. The crowds are cheering. Julia waves and points to her horse. A superb performance from horse and rider. But there’s 13.6 time penalties. That drops them down the leaderboard. Tom McEwen holds the lead.

Meanwhile, Louise is showing on the live scores at clear through fence 25.

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7:44

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇸🇪 Louise Romeike and Caspian 15*

Dressage Score: 35.3
Place: 60=

This is such a big powerful horse. They jump right down the slope over the skinny at 5B. So much scope and power. They’re very bold through the first water at 11. Excellent.

Julia says “good boy” as Nickel takes the duck at 13B. The crowd cheers. They gallop on. Julia’s very careful off the drop at 17A and then goes the direct route, giving her horse time to read the fences and really going through there so smoothly. The flags are going in the crowd.

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7:40

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇩🇪 Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel*

Dressage Score: 22
Place: 1

Here we go, our dressage leaders are out on course. They have just two seconds of time in hand over second.

The crowds go wild as they set off down the track. There’s clapping and cheering, supporting their home rider all the way. They’re super neat through the first combination at 5 and motoring on. She gives us a masterclass of riding through the coffin at 8, just beautiful. She takes the option at the combination at 9, slightly smaller fences and a little turn between, but she doesn’t waste any time, really. They’re bold into the water at 11 and the crowd are really loud. They were balanced and focused through there. She’s totally going for this. You go girl.

Gaspard takes a risk at the angled brushes at 27 but they squeak through and over the finale to cross the line. They continue to zoom off whilst Gaspard celebrates. Just 1.6 time for them.

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7:38

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇨🇭 Nadja Minder and Top Job’s Jalisco*

Dressage Score: 46.5
Place: 87

Sadly we see Nadja make an early exit as she comes quickly into the coffin complex at 8 and the horse just catches the rail. Nadja’s propelled out of the tack, the horse jumps the ditch and Nadja ends up on the ground, albeit on her feet. That’s a real shame for them. Not at all the Championships they’d have been hoping for.

Austin’s elbows are going as he comes to the finale and he crosses the line, just 8 time penalties for them.

Gaspard is showing on the live scores as clear through fence 23, his flag question has been taken away.

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7:32

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇫🇷 Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza*

Dressage Score: 29.3
Place: 16=

Zoom Zoom Zaragoza gets off to an expectedly quick start, boy she’s keen for the job. Gaspard takes a pull into the third but then takes the fourth out of his stride. He gets her back for the first combination at 5 and there’s big cheers for them as they gallop on up the track.

They look really together coming into the water at 11 but then there’s a bit of a wiggle and a flag question at the C element. They’re super quick to the duck in the middle of the water combination at 13 and then are a bit squeaky over the C element but Gaspard makes it happen.

Austin continues to go well with Salty although we’re not seeing much of him, sadly. They’re showing as clear through 24 on the live scores.

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7:28

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇪 Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue*

Dressage Score: 29
Place: 14

There’s cheers for Salty as he makes his way around the track. This is an exciting round for them after such a great showing in the dressage. They hunt their way through the coffin at 8, not on the perfect stride but picking their way through. Great cross country riding from Austin.

Carlos has completed with one flag question and 41.2 time.

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7:21

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇧🇷 Carlos Parro and Safira*

Dressage Score: 44.2
Place: 85

Safira’s looking strong at the start of the round and really keen for the job today. They navigate the combination at 9 neatly. The mare seems to have settled into the course as she pops nicely through the owl hole at 15. They’re untidy off the drop at 17A, slipping sideways, and then are a bit hairy over the brush at the B element. They’re through though but with a flag question at the final element. There’s another one at 11C.

Oliver pops the owl hole at 15 and gallops on. But then sadly we see him out of the plate. They get the striding wrong coming into the brush at 17B, the horse tries but Oliver’s bounced right out of the tack. He’s on his feet and walking home. That’s Australia out of the team competition.

Kento takes the direct route through the combination at 27 and oh dear, another one to come unstuck there. The horse is traveling through his shoulder and Kento has no chance of getting the line. A very late 20 for them. They go on to complete with a frangible penalty, that 20, a flag question and 34.4 time.

Update on Boyd’s flag penalty – it’s been taken away.

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7:16

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇦🇺 Oliver Barrett and Sandhills Briar*

Dressage Score: 31.3
Place: 28

Oliver rides into the A element at 9 and they’re not quite on it but things come off for them and they make it through. They’re neater through the water at 11 to big cheers from the crowd.

Boyd takes a risk at the complex at 24. They squirrel over the corner at B and then again the other way at the C element. Yikes. But what a display of Boyd’s balance. Very impressive. They got straight through the combination at 27 and then ride for the finale. They brush through it and over the line and that’s a second score on the board for the USA. Classic Boyd round and a superb showing from Bali. 6.4 time and a flag question. I’ll keep you updated on that.

Meanwhile Kento is showing on the live scores as being up at fence 22 carrying the frangible penalties and a flag question.

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7:12

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇯🇵 Kento Nagura and Vinci de la Vigne JRA*

Dressage Score: 33.3
Place: 45=

Wow, they have a moment at the first element of the coffin at 8 and the frangible device goes there.

Boyd’s elbows are going as he comes to the duck on the island at 13. He puts his foot down and gallops on, throwing off Bali’s ear bonnet as he goes. Some lucky person in the crowd’ll pick that up. There’s a flag question at 9A, I’ll keep you updated on that. He opts for the longer route at 17, the preferred option for team USA. He has to drive for the skinny brush at the final element but they’re through and galloping on.

Pavel’s home and celebrating. His flag penalties have been taken away so just 32 time for them.

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7:08

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇺🇸 Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker*

Dressage Score: 30.9
Place: 25

The ice man is out on track. Lot of pressure on this round as the US are down to three. But Boyd eats pressure up.

They’re beautiful through the coffin at 8 and then the combination of skinny brushes at 9. They have a superb line through the water at 11, really looking together and flowing. A great start for them.

Monica gets a great shot at the triple bar coming out of the water at 25 and she’s galloping for home. She brings Artist back for the final combination at 27 that caught teammate Jonelle out earlier. Taking no chances. They take the flag but it looks fine. They’re over the line. 4.8 time.

Pavel is showing on the live scores as having a flag question at 11B and then clear through fence 19.

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7:04

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇨🇿 Pavel Brezina and Turin*

Dressage Score: 38.8
Place: 74

Pavel’s counted down and they set off at a furious gallop.

Katrin meanwhile is patting her horse between fences as she makes her way towards the village combination at 24. That’s great to see. There’s some conversation going on about taking the longer route at 27, the horse wanted to go straight. But they take the alternative and cross the finish and Katrin is delighted. 30 time and there’s a flag question at 17B.

Artist is showing off his Thoroughbred gallop between fences but then comes back nicely for the drop at 17A. They get very close to the brush shoulder at B and there’s a squiggle and then again at the skinny brush at C. But they’re through clear.

Update on Clarke Johnstone being pulled up – Rocket Man had a nose bleed.

Another update – Axel Lindberg’s flag penalty has been removed.

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7am

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇳🇿 Monica Spencer and Artist*

Dressage Score: 28.9
Place: 13

Artist gallops out of the box and takes the first couple fences out of his stride. They’re really good through the combination at 9 and Artist has his ears pricked looking for the next fence. They’re bold into the water at 11 and get a great line through the combination there.

Alex is super quick through the water at 25. Chicko’s still galloping along and jumping really well. They come into the direct route through the angled brushes at 27 and there’s no question there. They jump the last and there’s big pats for Chicko. They’re carrying 9 penalties for a flag but that’ll be reviewed. I’ll update you as we get news. Otherwise, a superb round. 4.8 time.

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6:56

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇦🇹 Katrin Khoddam-Hazrati and Renegade*

Dressage Score: 38.3
Place: 70

Now we’re back with the teams for the third rider rotation.

We don’t see Katrin at the start of her round but the live scores are showing as clear through fence 9. We catch up with them at the water at 11 and she punches the air as she comes out of there.

Chicko has a little look into the water over the hanging log at 13A and then they’re a bit off at the corner in the water. That’s squeaky moment. The shoulders definitely go over the fence but the hind? Hmmm. Alex thinks he’s good and he continues on. One for the Ground Jury.

He goes the direct route at 17 and Alex looks to be really going for this. He’s totally focused and wasting no time at all.

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6:52

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇨🇳 Alex Hua Tian and Chicko

Dressage Score: 32.5
Place: 37

Alex looks cool as you like as he waits in the start box, and then he’s off and galloping and Chicko looks incredibly keen and ready. He’s set out very fast. They’re impressive through the first combination at 5, wasting not a fraction of a second. They have a great line through the coffin at 8 and are super neat through there.

Chicko backs off the skinny brush at 9A and Alex is clicking. They brush through but then put in a big jump over the B element. They’re bold into the water at 11 and are really smooth round the line in there. Alex gives Chicko a pat.

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6:46

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇩🇰 Peter T. Flarup and H.Carald Z

Dressage Score: 35.1
Place: 56

There’s an early question for Peter who has a potential flag penalty at 5. We see it on screen and it’s too close to call. And then we see on the live scores that there’s been a rider fall at 9B. We see him on his feet.

Meanwhile Balasz takes the direct route at the angled brushes at 27 and then completes. Clear jumping, 36 time.

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6:41

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇵🇱 Joanna Pawlak and Armin de Monsieur

Dressage Score: 37.2
Place: 65

Joanna opts for the long route at 8, taking the gate alternatives really neatly but then run into troubles at 9 where they take the longer route but stop at the A element. They come back round and stop again. The live scores show a third refusal and they walk home

Balazs is confident through the water at 13, riding forwards and bravely and the horse is jumping really well. They pop neatly through the owl hole at 15.

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6:36

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇭🇺 Balázs Kaizinger and Clover 15

Dressage Score: 35.3
Place: 60=

Balazs is having a good round with Clover, popping away and getting the job done. They’re clear through fence 12 and enjoying their time out there.

We pick up with Weerapat as they have a stop at 13B. That was a surprise as they jumped in really well. He’s jumps the alternative but then has to look round for an alternative route. He jumps some more elements but then looks to have been pulled up for an error of course. That’s a sad end to their competition.

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6:32

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇹🇭 Weerapat Pitakanonda and B.Grimm Chateau de Versailles M2S

Dressage Score: 41.4
Place: 82

Weerapat is showing on the live scores as being clear through fence 10 although we’ve not seen much of their round, sorry.

Noemi opts for long route at the combination at 24, which is exactly what those long routes are for. They’re moving forwards though and not wasting time. She’s really having a super ride and the horse is looking great as they come to the end of the track, ears pricked and really galloping on. They go long at the final combination at 27 and have a moment at the A element, but all’s well. Huge pats at the end of the course. A really superb showing from this pair. 30 time for them and a World Championships completion.

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6:26

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇭🇺 Noémi Viola Doerfer and Piltown Harry

Dressage Score: 41.9
Place: 83

We’re around the half-way mark now.

We catch up with Noemi going long at 17, deciding not to come off the drop at the A element. It means an extra jumping effort. They’re not going super quick but they’re traveling forward and having a good ride.

Olivia’s showing on the live scores as having picked up a 20 at 24C. That’s a real shame as the round has looked amazing. They’re straight as a die through the final combination at 27 and clear the last. 20 jumping and 14 time for them.

Meanwhile Sam trots off the drop and opts for the slightly longer route at 17. It’s not looking easy always for Sam but they’re getting the job done together. They look to have taken the long route at 24 too. The horse is looking a little tired but she’s supporting him and he’s jumping nicely. They finish with 25.2 time.

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6:20

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇳🇿 Samantha Lissington and Lucas Stone

Dressage Score: 29.7
Place: 20

Sam comes to the water at 13 and has to ride a little through there but the horse responds and they gallop away. You can see him looking around at the crowds.

Olivia’s horse is really looking for the flags as he goes along. They drift at the final element of the water at 13 and the flag goes, but it looks OK. The horse has a really lovely expression on his face as he gallops along and she’s giving him a great ride. There’s a big cheer as they take the silver birch oxer at 19 in their stride.

Ashish meanwhile has a bit of a moment at the water at 25, the horse looks a little tired and it’s all a bit messy but they’re through and continue on their way and complete. 22 time, 20 jumping and three flag questions, but a World Championships completion nonetheless.

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6:17

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇦🇺 Olivia Barton and APH Sodoku

Dressage Score: 30.6
Place: 24

Olivia’s brave and forward at the start of her round. They’re very neat through the coffin complex at 8 and then again through the water at 11.

Ashish is showing as having had a 20 at 11C and there are three flag questions showing on the live scores. We haven’t seen what’s been going on though, sorry.

Axel is riding forward right to the end. It’s a bit risky at the two brushes at 27, losing the shoulder but managing to stay on line. He crosses the line. There’s a flag question for them at 11C. They’re just two seconds over the time. Only 0.8 added for them.

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6:12

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇳 Ashish Limaye and D’avril du Pinier

Dressage Score: 44.6
Place: 86

Ashish is quick through the combination at 9. They’re a bit off line but the horse is very honest and picks his way through the flags. Oh no, it looks like he’s gone the wrong way. That’s a really frustrating mistake.

Jessie totally goes for it at the combination at 24, totally trusting her horse who totally delivers. She’s such a pleasure to watch, loving her job and giving it her all the whole way round. They put an extra stride in to the combination at 27, the flag goes but they look to stay inside. They’re over the last. 12 time for them and Lacey looks really well at the end of the round.

Axel meanwhile picks his way carefully through the water at 25. They’re headed for home now.

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6:08

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇫🇮 Axel Lindberg and Quelle Bonne

Dressage Score: 39
Place: 75=

Axel’s horse has his ears pricked at the start of the course. The horse is very brave and gets in close to a few fences which keeps us on the edge of our seats. Axel sits up though and it works for them.

Jessie and Lacey come into the water at 13 looking confident and totally together. They’re being cheered all around the track. They’re brave off the drop at 17 and then pick out an alternative route through there, adding as they go as this horse doesn’t have the biggest stride, but they do a great job and gallop on.

Esteban is showing on the live scores as having picked up a 20 at 24C, the corner complex. He goes on to finish with 30 time.

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6:04

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇨🇦 Jessica Phoenix and Fluorescent Adolescent

Dressage Score: 35.1
Place: 56=

Jessie and Lacey are great through the combination at 9, taking on the triple brushes and wasting no time at all.

Esteban continues to have a nice round with the sweet Utrera, adding a couple trot steps into the drop at 17 and coming off carefully before making their way through the brushes.

We see Paolo through the combination at 27 but Zinny looks tired and there’s something not quite right. Paolo gets off before the final fence. The teams are right with them. I’ll update you if we get further news.

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6am

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇪🇸 Esteban Benitez Valle and Utrera AA 35 1

Dressage Score: 33.3
Place: 45=

We’re into the second batch of individual riders now.

We watch Esteban through the triple brush combination at 9, making a nice job of that through there. They get a good shot into the water at 11 and get a really nice line through and are on their way.

Tom goes the long route at the village combination at 24. The British team just can’t risk anything as they’re down to three. They don’t waste much time though as they’re traveling on so nicely. He’s close to home now. He’s close to the time. There’s a little wobble coming into the angled brushes at 27, he keeps his stick down Dubs shoulder but they stay in line. He’s over the last. A fabulous round on the board for Britain, superb riding and a really excellent round from the horse. Just 2 time penalties to add.

Meanwhile, Paolo is showing on the live scores as clear through fence 17.

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5:56

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇹 Paolo Torlonia and Zinny*

Dressage Score: 41.3
Place: 81

Paolo completes the second team rider rotation. Zinny is super excited in the start box, spinning and up on her back legs. But then she’s off and running.

Tom hails a cab on the way into the water at 13 and we get a replay of the corner on the way out of that complex, but all’s well. They gallop on and Dubs is looking very much within himself and happy. They slide off the step at 17 and then pick the perfect line through the two brushes at B and C, not in a hurry, taking no chances but totally on their game.

Meanwhile Wouter picks the longer route at the combination at the penultimate fence at 27, sensible not to take a risk with this lovely young mare. They cross the line and he looks delighted with her. 37.2 time, clear jumping.

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5:52

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇬🇧 Tom McEwen and JL Dublin*

Dressage Score: 26.6
Place: 5

Tom’s got some pressure on him now that the British team are down to three, but he’s a cool dude and will shoulder it well, no doubt. Dubs looks very ready for this as he gets his round underway, really jumping big and looking super fit and keen. He comes to the coffin at 8 where Gemma had her troubles. No problem for this pair. Phew. Wow, they’re quick and smooth. Tom’s really riding with intention.

Wouter is very nice through the water at 13, really letting his young horse read the fences and supporting her in this big challenge.

Sterre is super quick through the corners at 24B and C, a little risky there from them, but they’re clear. But then we sadly see them parting company on the way out of the water at 25. We see her up on her feet.

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5:48

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇧🇪 Wouter de Cleene and Ragdoll de Tamise*

Dressage Score: 37.6
Place: 68=

We see Wouter take an alternative option through the triple brush complex at 9, very neat through there for this lovely young horse.

Sterre does a great job at the water at 13. The horse hesitates in the water but Sterre keeps him with her and they make it through clear. Good riding. They don’t look the quickest but they’re bowling along in a nice rhythm and going for a completion.

Meanwhile, Amanda has completed with 11.6 time.

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5:45

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇳🇱 Sterre van Houte and Crossborder Radar Love*

Dressage Score: 32.9
Place: 42=

We pick up Sterre at the combination at 9, where they’re very confident, really bold and punchy through there. Looks like a great start to their World Championships round.

Yikes, Malin’s horse slips coming into the second corner at 24 but what an honest horse it is, rebalancing and picking up and clearing the fence. They’re awesome through the final combination at 27 and then over the last. The crowd and support teams celebrate as they cross the line. She’s punching the air. Just 3.2 time for them. An absolutely cracking round.

We get a brief glimpse of Amanda at the water at 25, but it’s very brief, sorry. She’s showing as clear to there.

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5:43

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇸🇪 Amanda Staam and Corpoubet AT*

Dressage Score: 34.9
Place: 55

Amanda’s not been shown on the feed but she’s showing on the live scores as being clear through fence 11.

The flags are waving, there’s clapping and cheers as Malin makes her way along the track. She’s close to home now, clearing the picnic tables at 21 and 22, but still plenty of work to do.

Update on Melody’s flag – it’s been taken away. No penalties added for them today.

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5:36

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇩🇪 Malin Hansen-Hotopp and Carlitos Quidditch K*

Dressage Score: 28.6
Place: 11

The home crowd are loud for Malin as she gets going as the second rider for the German team. They come confidently into the water at 13 although there’s a gasp from the crowd as the horse brushes his hind legs over the hanging log in, no worries though and they’re through and galloping on their way. The German crowd really supporting them all along the track.

Meanwhile, Alexis continues to have a peach of a ride. They look total class through the corners at 24. This horse really is a superstar, so willing and quick to react and still ears firmly pricked at they come to the end of the course. They’re brilliantly straight through the penultimate combination at 27 and they clear the last to a big cheer. 6.4 time.

We catch up with Melody as she flies through the farm yard and then pick her back up as she comes over the last. She’s punching the air. SHE’S INSIDE THE TIME!!! But there’s a flag question at fence 17B.

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5:33

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇨🇭 Mélody Johner and Erin*

Dressage Score: 31.5
Place: 32=

Melody shows as clear through fence 11 on the live scores but we don’t get to see her on the live feed, sorry.

Aoife’s horse has something to say about coming back for the penultimate combination at 27 but they’re straight through there and then over the last. Clear jumping and just 1.2 time. Game on for team Ireland.

Alexis is very neat through the water at 13, absolutely spot on. They’re looking very competent and clean and relishing their World Championships. They make nothing of the big picnic tables at 21 and 22 and are headed for home.

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5:31

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇫🇷 Alexis Goury and Je’vall*

Dressage Score: 28.5
Place: 10

Alexis will be a counting score for the French team now they’re down to three. They pick out a beautiful line to the corner in the water at 11, no doubt about that there. They look confident at the start of their round.

Aoife’s showing on the live scores as clear through fence 22 but still with a flag question at 5.

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5:25

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇪 Aoife Clark and Full Monty de Lacense*

Dressage Score: 31.5
Place: 32=

Aoife’s rapid at the start of her round, blink and you’ll miss em. They’re quick as you like through the water at 13, smooth and fierce and very much hunting a fast clear for the Irish team. There’s a flag question for them at 5C. That’s being reviewed.

Raphael’s classy through the water combination at 13, he looks to be having a great ride. They are super straight through the final combination at 27 and they cross the line to huge cheers. 15.6 time for them.

Oh dear, we’re seeing Sam on the ground. Ugh, what a bummer to have such a late fall, at the penultimate fence. He could see the finish flags. The horse drifted through the two angled brushes and pops out at the last second. Sam’s propelled over the fence. He’s up and fine and the horse is good but how completely frustrating to be so near and yet so far. Gutted for him.

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5:20

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇧🇷 Raphael Mamprin Losano and Withington*

Dressage Score: 34.4
Place: 53

This is the first Brazilian rider we’ve seen as they’re a team of three and didn’t have a rider in the first rotation. The horse sets off with pricked ears, hunting out the fences and in a really good gallop. They’re careful through the first combination at 5, that was tricky for such a big horse with gravity coming down the slope pulling them into the second element but they do a good job of things.

Ryuzo’s horse looks into the water at 25 and he gives a little click of encouragement. It’s looking quite hard work for him but the horse is traveling on well enough. They come into the penultimate combination at 27 for the straight route which feels quite brave as they’re carrying two refusals. There’s a wiggle into the first element and they take the flag but they make it through. They clear the last. 40 jumping and 38.8 time.

Sam’s showing on the live scores as being clear through fence 22.

Update on Jonelle’s time – 10.4, plus 20 jumping.

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5:16

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇦🇺 Sam Woods and SS Eight Count*

Dressage Score: 37.4
Place: 66

We see them a little scrappy through the coffin at 8, clever footwork from the horse there.

Ryuzo’s continuing on carrying that 20. Japan’s a team of three so all scores count. The horse has a little look into the water at 13 but they make it through. The horse is looking quite strong at times. They’re very neat through the owl hole at 15.

But then they run into further troubles at 17B, the brush shoulder after the step down. That’s another 20 for them. This is a real shock from this pair who are normally really reliable cross country. They continue on.

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5:14

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇯🇵 Ryuzo Kitajima and Feroza Nieuwmoed*

Dressage Score: 35.4
Place: 62

There’s a lot happening…

We see Ryuzo having an early mistake at the first combination at 5D. They pick up 20 there.

Meanwhile, Caroline has come unstuck at 17. Blake catches a leg on the skinny brush at the third element and Caroline’s fired out of the plate. She’s up and Blake looks fine but what a bummer. The USA is down to three.

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5:08

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇺🇸 Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake*

Dressage Score: 32.3
Place: 36

Caroline’s out as the second for the US, having already logged Phillip Dutton’s score for the team.

She gets off to a neat start and we see them confidently into the water at 13 but then there’s a wiggle at the corner and the flag goes. They’d looked so careful over the other elements but then she just loses the shoulder and the Blake drifted. There’s a question mark on that. She’s showing as having a flag question at 11C too. I’ll update you as I know.

Jonelle’s horse has got a second wind after that hold, for sure, he’s strong and flying as he comes to the water at 25. The crowd cheers as they make their way through there. They really respect the narrow triple rails.

Oh no. They come into the final combination at 27 and the horse is running through his shoulder. Jonelle does everything to keep him on his line. They make it over the first angled brush and take the flag but the horse is still going out the side door and she just can’t hold him in for the second element. 20 penalties. Gutted. Her score is a counting score for the team after Clarke didn’t complete. She goes on to finish, with that 20. We’re waiting for the time.

Matej’s time is in – 25.2.

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4:58

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇨🇿 Matěj Sukdolak and Qaid*

Dressage Score: 44
Place: 84

Matez looks to have had a good start to his round. We see him neatly through the owl hole at 15.

Jonelle opts for the slightly slower option at 17 but she’s so quick and wastes no time.

She’s pulled up while the fence that Harald had down is fixed. It was a deformable picnic table so will take a minute. Jonelle’s horse is being wet down to keep him cool while they wait.

Harald’s showing on the live scores as having completed. He’s got 20 for a refusal, the frangible device and 33.2 time.

Meanwhile, Matej continues on and we see him navigate the combination at 17 very competently. He’s not going quick but he’s keeping up a nice rhythm. He’s been allowed to continue on past Jonelle, while she’s stopped.

Matej sees a different stride to his horse at the picnic table at 22 and he’s pitched forward but sits up and heads on down the course. They go the quick route through the village complex at 24 and he’s grinning as they make a good job of it. Honest horse that’s really trying for his rider. The crowd are clapping them home. They drift through the combination at 27 but stay on track. They’re over the last and clear round the World Championships track. I’ll update the time when we have it.

Jonelle’s now been restarted.

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4:53

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇳🇿 Jonelle Price and Senor Crocodillo*

Dressage Score: 27.2
Place: 9

Jonelle’s got some pressure on her shoulders now the team’s down to three. But this lady sprinkles pressure on her breakfast cereal. They get off to a strong, confident start, as we’d expect from Jonelle. Jonelle’s straight as a die through the water at 11. The horse looks to be quite strong but Jonelle’s keeping him on side and then lets him run along a bit before bringing him back to go through the water for a second time.

Wow, heart in mouth moment at the corner in the water there where the horse sees the fence at the last second. But he’s on it and Jonelle sits up and they gallop away.

We’re seeing a damp Maarten walking his horse out of the water at 25. It’s showing as a rider fall for them and so sadly elimination.

Harald’s showing on the live scores as having had a frangible device at 22.

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4:50

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇦🇹 Harald Ambros and Vitorio du Montet*

Dressage Score: 35.1
Place: 56=

We’re back with the team riders now for the second rotation.

Harald is clear through the second water at 13. The horse looks really keen and they’re wasting no time at all. The Austrian flags are waving him along.

Maarten’s horse is really careful the combination with the step at 17. They opt for the slightly longer route there and do a great job of things.

We finally see Christoffer as he nears home. The horse’s ears are pricked as he comes to take the longer route at the penultimate combination at 27, taking on an extra jumping effort. They clear the last and there’s big pats for a job nicely done. 53.6 time for them and a World Championships cross country clear.

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4:44

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇧🇪 Maarten Boon and Gravin van Cantos

Dressage Score: 31.4
Place: 30

Maarten’s horse really looks to be enjoying herself out on course. She loved the dressage too. So joyful to watch. They’re clear through the second water at 13 and having a ball. There’s oos from the crowd there as they get a bit close to the middle element but this is a partnership who know each other well and they stick together.

Yikes, there’s a moment for Angelika at the village complex at 24. They activate the frangible device at the C element. Things just look rather hairy at times. Then they have another pin at the water at 25C. She gets things back together though and they go on to complete to the delight of the support team who’re skipping round. There’s a flag under review from 24B, two frangible penalties and 13.2 time.

We’re still not seeing Christoffer but he’s showing on the live scores as clear through fence 22.

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4:40

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇸🇪 Christoffer Forsberg and Hippo’s Sapporo TSF

Dressage Score: 32.6
Place: 38

We don’t get to see Christoffer, sorry, but he’s showing at clear through the water at 11 on the live scores.

The Swiss flags are flying for Angelika at the water at 13. They’ve picked up the pace some and look confident through there. They’re careful over the two big tables at 21 and 22.

Meanwhile, Korntawat’s heading towards home. They’re stilling running on and see a great stride at 26 and then are really great through the tricky final combination at 27. They’re over the last. What a superb round. Just 1.2 time penalties for them. A pleasure to watch that, what a lovely horse given a great ride.

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4:36

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇨🇭 Angelika Dubak and Felin de Chignan

Dressage Score: 35.1
Place: 56=

Angelika’s horse really listens to her through the combination at 5, coming back and balancing nicely and making a tidy job through there.

Korntawat is great through the second water at 13. This is shaping up to be a great round in the early stages of the course. They’re smooth everywhere and quick. He gives his horse a pat as they gallop away from the steeplechase fence at 14 where they have a little breathing space between the big combinations.

They go the quick route through the combination at 17, coming neatly off the step and then picking their way through the two brushes.

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4:31

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇹🇭 Korntawat Samran and B.Grimm Carouzo Bois Marotin

Dressage Score: 34.2
Place: 52

The horse looks super positive at the start of the course. They’ve set off really confidently and look to be a bold pair. They jump the first few out of their stride. They’re very quick through the first combination at 5, that was quite brave. They go straight a the coffin complex at 8 and the horse really is super through there, gorgeous technique and smart on his feet. Excellent.

They’re smooth as you like through the first water and there’s a cheer from the crowd.

Update on Libusse’s flag penalties – she’s been given 9 for a missed flag.

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4:21

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇹 Francesco Aondio Bertero and It’s Athene

Dressage Score: 41.2
Place: 80

We have two Italians on course as Giovanni comes towards the end of his round and Francesco starts as an individual.

Duke of Champions is still running on as he comes to the penultimate fence. They take the flag on the first tractor but look to be OK. There’s a little wiggle but Giovanni keeps him between his legs and they’re through and over the last. Big cheers. Clear jumping, 16.8 time.

Splinter’s time is now in, 13.2 penalties.

Francesco’s showing as having had a 20 at fence 6 and now we’re seeing Francesco being held on course. We’re also seeing Kumru walking around. She looks happy and relaxed, so hopefully all’s well.

We get back up and running and Francesco’s horse is very keen. It’s really tricky for Francesco and then she stops at the silver birch rails at 8A. Francesco puts his hand up. Not their day today.

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4:18

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇹🇷 Kumru Say and Baladin de L’ocean LA

Dressage Score: 38.7
Place: 72=

We have a batch of individual riders coming up now, starting out with Kumru.

Giovanni gets a huge jump over the stick pile at 16 and then is brave off the step at 17A. Giovanni loses his stirrup through the combination there but his lower leg is strong and he doesn’t budge a bit. He gets it back and gallops on. This is a great round so far, he’s really giving this lovely horse a peach of a ride. The horse is keen though and looks to be quite strong coming into some of the fences.

The live stream is focusing on Giovanni as we’re seeing on the live scoring that Kumru has had a fall at 9A.

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4:13

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇹 Giovanni Ugolotti and Duke of Champions*

Dressage Score: 36.3
Place: 64

Giovanni is the last rider in the first team rotation.

Senne is showing as having picked up a third refusal on course at 9A, a skinny triple brush. That’s the end of their round.

That means that Giovanni’s got the course to himself for a moment. He gets off to a confident start and the horse has his ears pricked and looks to be relishing his time out there as he pops through the first fences. They go straight through the first water at 11 and then are very quickly back up to speed. He’s taking Giovanni to the fences and jumping brilliantly. Giovanni balances him into the water at 13 but the horse is keen. They’re close to the duck at the third element and there’s a knock, but it’s a forgiving fence and they slide on through.

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4:08

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇬🇧 Gemma Stevens and Flash Cooley*

Dressage Score: 29.3
Place: 16=

Gemma sets out with her game face on. They’re straight into a great rhythm and Gemma’s crouched low.

But then, goodness. Flash Cooley comes to a halt at the silver birch rails at 8A, going into the coffin. They were taking the long route. Gemma comes back round but no, the horse says not today. What a shock and huge disappointment for Gemma and the team. They walk off course.

The live scores are showing that Senne picked up further penalties at the B element of the coffin complex, although we didn’t see it on screen. So they’re carrying 40.

Meanwhile Splinter ops for the long route at the penultimate combination, a completion very much on his mind and the risk of the straight route wasn’t worth it for him. He’s over the last and the youngest competitor has completed at the World Championships. We don’t have his time showing yet, sorry.

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4:05

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇧🇪 Senne Vervaecke and Google van Alsingen*

Dressage Score: 34.8
Place: 54

Oh, we catch up with Senne coming to a stop at the rails going into the coffin. They were going the longer route. That’s an early 20 for them.

Splinter is brave off the step at 17 but picks the slightly longer route. They’re close to the B element and then the horse is very strong. Splinter’s trying to get him back and somehow they navigate their way to the final element. Splinter’s thrown forward but sits back up and they gallop on.

Sophia has completed, 20 jumping penalties, 27.2 time.

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4am

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇳🇱 Splinter Bergsma and Vigo Key SR Z*

Dressage Score: 40.3
Place: 78

There’s a couple of sticky moments for Splinter who’s opting to take some longer lines at times. there’s gasps and oos as they jump into the water 13, but they’re staying together and really going for it. Determined rider and a horse that’s responding.

Libusse continues to be very fast and elicits gasps from the crowd at the water at 23. They go the longer route at 25, perhaps German team instructions. They’re welcomed home to big cheers. She’s got a question mark over that flag but otherwise clear jumping, 16.8 time.

Sophia’s showing as being up at fence 19.

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3:58

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇸🇪 Sofia Sjöborg and Bryjamolga VH Marienshof Z*

Dressage Score: 39
Place: 75=

Sadly we pick up Sofia having a drive by at 9B, picking up 20 there. They come back round and continue on. They’re very good through the quick route at the water at 11, straight back into their flow after that disappointment. The crowd cheers.

Libusse’s very fast round the corner after the step at 17, they’re charging along. They make the turn though and over the two brushes and on their way.

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3:52

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇩🇪 Libussa Lübekke and Caramia FRH*

Dressage Score: 31.3
Place: 28=

The first for the host nation is out on course. Huge cheers from the crowds as she makes her way over the first couple of fences. This horse is so careful through the coffin at 8, very neat and quick through there. They go the direct route through the water at 13 and take the flag at the final element. We’re shown a replay of them through the water at 11 and there’s a flag question there at the C element. It’s a close call.

There’s Swiss flags waving as Robin gallops past. The support for the horses and riders really is wonderful. Robin brings the horse right back for the tables at 21 and 22, separately numbered but related fences. Then he kicks on off to the boat in the water at 23, which he flies. There’s a little peck on landing over the corner at 24C but Robin’s in perfect balance and they gallop on, with a pat for the horse. They’re headed for home now. They’re super straight through the brush tractors at 27 and then over the finale. What a great round from this lovely horse. Robin punches the air. Clear jumping, 10.4 time.

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3:46

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇨🇭 Robin Godel and Grandeur de Lully CH*

Dressage Score: 30.1
Place: 22

Robin gets off to a confident start and the horse looks well up for his time out on the track today. They’re very neat through the coffin at 8, turning just a couple of strides before the A element, total trust in his horse. This 18-year-old looks fabulous. There’s big cheers as they’re smooth through the water at 11, very clean. They’re moving on between the fences and then the horse is so attentive at the fences. Total class through the water at 13, wasting not a second. The crowd’s clapping him round the course.

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3:40

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇫🇷 Benjamin Massie and Figaro Fonroy*

Dressage Score: 35.6
Place: 63

Sadly we see Ben having difficulties at 9. He comes down the slope and lose balance and the horse goes to the side of the fence. They slip down the bank there. We see the horse and Ben back up on their feet.

Ian’s horse slips on take off into the water at 12 and looks to have lost a shoe. More hunting going on through there. Ian’s really driving and his horse is responding. He’s jumping brilliantly. They’re very positive through the water at 25 and headed towards home. They’re straight as you like through the angled brushes at 27 and get a good shot over the last. Clear jumping and 7.2 time.

Sophia Hill and Humble Glory are CLEAR INSIDE THE TIME!!! Sadly we didn’t really see any of their round.

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3:37

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇮🇪 Ian Cassells and Millridge Atlantis*

Dressage Score: 33.5
Place: 48

We catch Ian through the complex at 9 and they’re very quick through there. He opts for the direct route through the water at 11 and has a moment at the log into the water, Ian sits tight and drives for the corner at C and they make it through. That’s cross country riding for you.

Phillip opts for the direct route through the village combination at 24, lining up the two corners superbly. What an exciting horse this is, he’s so neat and careful, and they look quick too, although they are down on the clock. They’re straight and smooth through the water at 25 and can smell home. There’s a little drift through the final combination at 27 but they’re through and over the finale. A clear cross country round on the board for the USA. 12.4 time penalties.

The live scores are showing Sophia as clear through fence 25.

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3:34

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇦🇺 Sophia Hill and Humble Glory*

Dressage Score: 37.6
Place: 68=

This Thoroughbred flies out of the box and really gets stuck into the course, finding a rhythm very quickly. There’s an ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie let’s go!’ from the crowd as she gallops by.

Phillip and Denim are continuing to go really well. They’re clear through the owl at at 15 and then brave off the drop at 17A. They jump brilliantly through the combination there, taking a slightly longer line but this horse eats up the ground and they wasted no time at all.

Miroslav is over the line. The horse is still pulling to the last. He’s a minute 10 seconds over the time but clear around the World Championships track.

We’re hearing that Clarke Johnstone was pulled up by the Ground Jury and following a vet check didn’t continue on.

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3:30

NEW COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇺🇸 Phillip Dutton and Denim*

Dressage Score: 32.6
Place: 38=

Phillip’s off and running! He gets off to a good start and comes very quickly through the coffin complex, Denim’s very neat and tidy with his footwork, what a great feeling that must have been. He looks to be relishing this test and is really responding to Phillip. They get a great shot into the water at 11, total class through that complex.

We catch up with Miroslav at the owl hole at 15 and his horse looks very clean.

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3:25

THIRD COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇨🇿 Miroslav Trunda and Mellevue van Rechteren

Dressage Score: 41
Place: 79

Miroslav gets away for Czechia, great to see them with a team here.

Meanwhile Daniel’s horse is looking well as he comes to the latter stages of the course. He’s still got his ears pricked and galloping on. They go for the longer route at the village complex at 24, looping round and taking up time, but a completion is the name of the game for this pair, particularly carrying that 20. They pick up penalties at the last combination too, it’s at the penultimate fence and the tractors there are on a really acute angle. They navigate the longer route and come home. Completion for them.

We’re seeing on the live scoring that Clarke has been stopped. I don’t have any more information but I’ll update you when I do.

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3:20

SECOND COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇳🇿 Clarke Johnstone and Rocket Man

Dressage Score: 28.7
Place: 12

We see Clarke leave the box and easily navigate the first few fences then catch up with him going the direct route through the coffin at 8. Super smooth through there. He makes nothing of the wide triple brushes at the double combination at 9. Looking good so far. They take the quick route at the first water at 11 and make it seem easy.

Aw, Daniel runs into trouble at the water complex at 11, picking up a 20 at the C element, the brush corner in the water. He opts for the alternative route the second time through the water at 13.

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3:15

FIRST COMBINATION OUT ON COURSE: 🇦🇹 Daniel Dunst and Chevalier 97

Dressage Score: 33.3
Place: 45=

And we’re off! If you’re up and following in countries where it’s the very early hours of the morning, all respect to you, fellow eventing nerds.

Daniel gets the World Championships cross country underway as first team member for Austria. The crowds are out in force and cheering the first competitor away. They get into a nice rhythm right away and the horse has his ears pricked, hunting out his next fence. The early part of the course is lovely and flowing then we come to the first combination at 5 which Daniel goes straight through. The track is super green compared to the areas around, there’s been a lot of work done to make sure the footing is perfect despite the crazy hot and dry weather we’ve been having.

Daniel opts for the alternative at 8, the coffin complex, playing it safe there. It’s more jumping efforts so he’ll have to plan for that in terms of bringing the horse home later.

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A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Scoring] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products

Saturday Links for Cross Country Day

By on Aug 15, 2026 12:01 am -

What’s On at Aachen: Cross Country Day
9:15 am CEST / 3:15 am EST —  [Start Order & Ride Times]

Andrew Hoy and Vassily de Lassos prepare for their fourth test together on the World Championship stage. Photo by Impulsion Media.

Are you ready for it? (*cue bass drop*)

Sit down, lock in, load up the live stream, and get ready for what EquiRatings have told us is set to be “the strongest field the sport has put on one start list“. We have a big day ahead of us, and with a whopping 87 starters, this is bound to be one to for the history books.

Before tuning in, be sure to check out Sally’s Cross Country Course Preview of the track all the riders are calling “Aachen on steroids”, or to hear the full fascinating rundown with course designer Giuseppe della Chiesa, listen in to the special bonus episode out now on the Go Eventing Podcast.

For a ride-by-ride recap of yesterday’s challengers and overtakers, check out Cheg’s Judging Break Update or read through Tilly’s full Day Two Report before tuning in to FEI.tv — you’re not going to want to miss a second of the action today!

As always, find all the important links in our Ultimate Guide, follow along with EN @goeventing to get behind-the-scenes interviews and updates, and watch this space for more reports to come.

Until then, here are just a few more great stats and facts from EquiRatings on the leaders of our 87-strong field:


FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Team Scores] [Live Scoring] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Nations Form Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products]

Other Major International Events This Weekend

Hartpury International & the British Championships CCI4*-S (GBR): [Website] [Tickets] [Schedule] [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [Live Stream]

Bromont Horse Trials CCI4*-S (CAN): [Website] [VIP Tickets] [Schedule] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [Watch – YouTube]

US Events This Weekend

Applewood Farm YEH, OEH & Mini Event (NJ): [Website] [Schedule] [Entries/Ride Times]

Caber Farm HT (WA): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer]

The Event at Archer (WY): [Website] [Schedule] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer] [CrossCountry App XC Map]

Genesee Valley Riding & Driving Club HT (NY): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer]

Waredaca Farm HT (MD): [Website] [Schedule] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer]

Ocala Summer HT II (FL): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Scoring] [Volunteer] [CrossCountry App XC Map]

River Glen Summer HT (TN): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scoring] [CrossCountry App XC Map]

Full Gallop Farm August HT (SC): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Volunteer] [CrossCountry App XC Map]

More Reading from Aachen:

Training Tip of the Day

After two days of incredible dressage, but also our fair share of those unshakeable moments every rider will experience (just this time on a global stage), you may be asking what the best of the best are doing to prepare during every minute leading up to their tests. Dan Bizarro gives us some expert inside looks on Test Riding 101 — brought to us by our own EN (and RideiQ) writer Amanda Chance:

Go Eventing

Four years ago, we were all watching Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk retain their leading position in the World Championships at Pratoni — tune in below for some nostalgia:

‘You Have to Be Clever’: An Intro to Giuseppe della Chiesa’s FEI Eventing World Championships Cross Country Course

By on Aug 14, 2026 5:15 pm -

Photo via CrossCountry App.

While I have hunted and hunted in the corners of the internet, I have not been able to find a map of the 2006 World Equestrian Games cross country course to compare it to this year’s 20 year anniversary track at the FEI Eventing World Championships Aachen 2026. Now that I’ve said that, I’m sure I’ll receive a smug email from someone with a copy of the map attached (okay, but even if you have to be smug about it, please do send it as I would love to see it). So I did the next best thing: I asked someone who competed in 2006 for their memories of the track.

“Those days, it was a tough enough course,” Karin Donckers, who finished 13th individually for Belgium with Gazelle de la Brasserie that year. “I remember [there were] ‘piano’ steps up and down — a lot happened there. We had to go further away, we had a longer course — it was a bit more hilly because we went really to the back. The intensity and technicality on fences of course was different those days, but times are changing. There’s so much change — it’s normal. I think that’s necessary, that’s good also. We have to move up and follow the changes.”

So while this year’s Aachen track (remember, it’s usually a CCI4*-S here — the only Long format tracks that have been built were for the 2006 Games and this year) is unique to its typical counterparts, it’s not quite a total callback to the past. Instead what we have before us is a truly European, modern course, and while some riders wish it was more open in places, the general sentiment is that yes, Giuseppe has built something intense and difficult, but fair to all.

But there’s a qualifier here. The course designer is tasked with laying out a course that lends itself to safety and horse welfare. It’s a monumental task, one full of pressure and risk. Once the course is open and approved by the Ground Jury, that responsibility shifts onto the riders.

Giuseppe elaborated on this concept of rider responsibility and what he prefers to reference as “management of risk.”

“I don’t call it ‘safety,’ I call it managing the risk,” he told me. “If you want to be safe, sit in front of the TV — don’t try cross country on a horse. We have to be honest with the public, otherwise we shoot ourselves in the foot by saying “it’s safe, it’s safe.” It’s not safe — it’s something that carries risk. And that’s very important to me. We mustn’t sell something we can’t sell. This isn’t a safe sport. It’s a sport with risk that we manage — and the training, the preparation, and the respect are what let us manage that risk.”

The Coffin at 8ABCDE. Photo via CrossCountry App.

Here, Giuseppe talks about two different forms of risk management: active and passive.

“I always talk about two aspects of risk management: active risk management — preparation, training, understanding where you stand, and choosing the route that’s right for you that day. Maybe in two years you’ll be a champion, but today your horse and you should take a certain route. And passive safety, which is what happens after something goes wrong: frangible devices, hedges, and so on. We need to think more about active safety, proactively — it’s fine that the passive systems can help, but let’s avoid needing them in the first place.”

And here’s where the rider responsibility really comes into play: “What you can do with active safety is much more than what you can do with passive safety. Here, when you choose to go the direct route or the alternative someone has built, that’s your choice, and you’re responsible for it. You’re not obliged to go there if you know today isn’t your day. That’s why we have 78 fences.”

The crux of designing a World Championships or an Olympic track is that the course must provide a strong enough challenge for the best riders in the world. This part, Giuseppe says, is almost the easier part of the job. The complexity compounds when you think about the riders who are less experienced, who have less exposure to top-level tracks. For this reason, we often see lettered alternatives up to, sometimes, even the letters D and E, to provide less risky options for riders who need to be able to complete safely. But the alternate routes “still need to have a flow,” Giuseppe says. Otherwise, you’re wasting energy — mostly that of the horse.

Photo via CrossCountry App.

“If you just keep turning them around, eventually the horse says, ‘Okay, enough,'” he elaborated. “So the effort has gone into creating alternatives with a bit of lateral, creative thinking that still have a flow but are longer and easier. We put 78 fences out there. I didn’t put them there just for decoration. The idea is that I hope they use them, and I think they should, because if you want to win a medal you clearly need to jump a very strong four-star track — and doing that within the time won’t be easy. And I know not everyone in this field is at that level — which is fine — but it would be wonderful to have everybody get home. That’s why I put out 78 fences. Whether they use them or not is in their hands now — I can’t do it for them.”

To that end, we’ve got a whole lot of alphabet soup out there, out of necessity. Each combination on course has at least one alternate route — some fences even have two options you can take. So, much studying is needed to ensure riders are clear on exactly which routes are which, how they can avoid crossing their tracks.

After an inviting opening to the course, which starts off with four single fences to get the horses up in the air and into a rhythm, the first combination is also fairly friendly: two arrowheads set on a bending distance, going slightly downhill. There was a similar question in the same place here last year, and it caused virtually no issues. This will get the horses perked up and seeking the fences as they head off into mostly familiar territory where the intensity really kicks off.

We’ll see the riders sort of doubling back on themselves several times throughout the course, as well as the use of an additional piece of the ground that’s been meticulously prepared by the building team over the last year.

One of the more inventive elements of the alternate routes on course comes at fence 8, which for the direct route is the Coffin complex. But take a look at this map:

I stopped and had a quick chat with Dutch team coach and course designer Andy Heffernan, who was the one who called this alternative “inventive” in the first place. The A element of the alternate route for fence 8 comes much earlier than the direct route, sending the riders on a circuit around the coffin complex and eventually putting them back on track for fence 9. This circuitous route isn’t necessarily “easy” but it allows for more time and setup if a steep, serious coffin isn’t quite in the cards. Yes, there will be seconds lost, but potentially a 20 or worse avoided. Often with alternate routes, it’s difficult not to interrupt flow because they often involve much turning about or using creative lines to get to them; Giuseppe’s goal, as I wrote earlier, is to make the alternates make sense, not just spin the horses around.

After completing these questions and the first trip through the main Allianz Water Complex, riders will then head out into the newly-opened space, which features a new question that’s arguably the most buzzy one amongst the riders: the Longines Challenge. We’ve seen similar questions like this: of course, the iconic Burghley Leaf Pit comes to mind here. It’s a serious drop off a bank, after which you must organize quickly and get your line for a sharply angled related distance question. I spun around some of the course with Boyd Martin and a group of his owners yesterday, and listened to Boyd speak on his plans for the question.

Photo via CrossCountry App.

Photo via CrossCountry App.

“It’s only at the last second that the line appears,” he said. “So you really need a horse that’s locks on to it. I think the long way here is considerably easier, and I would guess it’s only about six or seven seconds longer — this is the only option where I think you’re not out of the competition.”

There is also a new, skinny keyhole jump at 15 as well as a “rollercoaster” log on a mound at 18 in this opened space, and while you’re approaching the end of the course by the time you gallop to two picnic tables at 21 and 22, you’re not out of the woods yet.

After coming up onto a mound to jump 24A, riders will make their way back down the mound to a technical corner question. Photos via CrossCountry App.

Here is where a couple of riders expressed some dislike for the course.

“I think it’s a it’s a tough course, but fair build,” Michael Jung (GER) said. “Maybe a little twisty, especially in the end. That’s a bit — how can I say? Not so nice in the end. But the conditions are very good. The ground is perfect, and I think it’s a good course. We have all the options for different horses, different riders. Everyone can choose a bit what they what they need, and I think it’s a good course.”

The track to two of the final combinations on course. Red indicates an alternate route. Photo via CrossCountry App.

The twistiness at the end he’s referring to comes particularly at fences 23 through 25, which require riders to jump through the DHL Water Complex, wind back to the SAP Village (also a question I saw many teams camping out at to formulate plans) — an intense question in itself, especially at the end of the course — before then heading back to the DHL Water for another combination.

“The course is very championship-like,” Felix Vogg (SUI) said. “It’s tough. Proper questions until the second last fence. Quite twisty, quite turny — you heard that already a few times. Not so happy about that. Don’t know if it has to be like this, but I understand if it’s a bit at the beginning, but at the end, when the horses are tired, it’s really, really tough on them. So I was hoping more like a course like 2006, where we actually can gallop and maybe the people don’t see us too much sometimes, but it’s quite on a small space and of course they made all out of it. The ground is fantastic, but I don’t know who who will be top — probably the ones who are today good in dressage, which are really ridable, which are still straightforward, and which are very very honest.”

What about the time? It’s notoriously difficult here when it’s a short format, and just 20% of the competitors who completed the 2006 World Equestrian Games made the optimum time when it was a Long format. And remember, that would have been a course with that much more room to gallop. So it’s not likely we’ll see many — if any — catch the 9:50 time, and there is another layer to this when it’s a Championship team competition.

“In a team competition it’s always a much harder prediction, because strategy changes everything,” Giuseppe said. “You could end up with half the field no longer riding for the time at all — because the last two riders on a team might be told, ‘We already have one horse eliminated, one with refusals — we just need a clear round,’ and a clear round means taking your time. So the number of riders actually going for the time can drop dramatically.”

So, I’d go out on a wager to say we won’t see any pairs — well, we do have an Artist and a Humble Glory in the field, two horses (among others who are speedy, of course) who can generally make time on just about any track — make the time.

Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel en route to winning CHIO Aachen in 2024. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Overall, it’s a cumulative course. Fence by fence, nothing is abjectly terrifying, nothing is unreadable to even my inexperienced riding eye. “You must be clever,” advises dressage leader Julia Krajewski (GER) — who has won CHIO Aachen twice, including once on her horse this weekend, Uelzenger’s Nickel. Riders must stay aware of their horses energy and mental aptitude, and be willing to adjust accordingly. “If you just push them through, you can’t push a horse for nine minutes 50. They have to have time to just breathe and gallop. So I think you have to be clever to ride where you can, but don’t override early on.”

And Giuseppe agrees. This, he says, is the essence of cross country riding. “The problem is putting it all together — if you ask me about one question, I’ll tell you about the course. It’s the whole course, done in the time, that makes a championship. That’s what I try to stress: I don’t want a single fence where you stop and think ‘how do I jump this?’ Everything should jump — but put it all together with the time pressure, and that’s the test.”

Above all, the course must be clear and fair to the horses — the reason we’re all here.

“I stress that a lot, including in the course-design seminars I give: the question must be clear to the horse,” Giuseppe said. “If it’s clear, the horse understands what’s being asked, even if it’s hard. If it’s not clear, that’s when it gets difficult. The line can be tough — closer, tighter, whatever — but the question itself must still be clear. Riders always tell me my courses are clear, and I appreciate that.”

Here’s a look at the course from our walk around:

If you want to hear much more from Giuseppe (and I recommend that you do), be sure to tune in to my sitdown with him here at Aachen on a mini episode of The Go Eventing Podcast, accessible here or on your favorite podcast platform.

Cross country begins at 9:15 am CEST, which is 3:15 am EST (use this handy website for time zone conversions!). You can find the starting order here and a full fence-by-fence preview on CrossCountry App, featuring guidance from Germany’s Anna Seimer, here.

A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Team Scores] [Live Scoring] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Nations Form Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products]

Nickel and Dimed: Julia Krajewski Takes World Championships Dressage Lead with Former Aachen Winner

By on Aug 14, 2026 4:54 pm -

Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It can sometimes feel like a bit of a foregone conclusion that the first phase will be a match race between Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH and Laura Collett and London 52, but in the twilight of both great horses’ careers, an heir apparent has taken over.

On the second day of dressage at the 2026 FEI World Championships, Germany’s Julia Krajewski and the 12-year-old Uelzener’s Nickel are at the top of the pack, having delivered a score of 22 that well eclipses their Paris Olympics score of 26.9 and marks a milestone step into the gelding’s prime.

Like so many horses and riders over both days of dressage, Julia and Nickel’s arrival into the arena was marked by a roar of support from the crowd – but Nickel, who was the yard’s ‘fun horse’ a few seasons ago and took part in plenty of raucous arena eventing competitions, isn’t easily muddled by a bit of noise.

“You do think, ‘okay, what will my horse think?’ The crowd was calm, and then just before I had to enter, [the commentator] finished announcing me and they started clapping,” says Julia. “I was like, ‘guys, that’s not the best moment!’ But Nickel, by now, knows what this square means, and even though he was a bit switched on 20 metres before, he went in and he’s okay.”

Then, she continues, “he’s concentrated, and supple, and with me, and I could really ride. Looking back, maybe I could have ridden even more, I don’t know, but he was so with me and correct and true, and I really had time to enjoy my dressage. I was even smiling a bit and thinking, ‘oh, he’s really nice!’ and smiling at the judges, hoping for half a point more. I don’t know if it worked, but he gave me a really nice feeling in there.”

Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Since Paris, where Nickel finished eleventh as a relatively green twelve-year-old, “he’s got a lot stronger. This test requires a lot of collection, and to stay supple in the collection is something you build over the years. Some horses find it easier and some more difficult, and it’s not the easiest for him to be really collected and quick with his hind legs but we’ve made that easier over the years.”

It is, she continues, “a balance between getting him stronger but also keeping him supple, because he’s quite a narrow horse, so he finds it difficult to bring the energy really through his back and he can be quick to get tense in his back. We always want to make sure he’s happy and supple in his body, so he’ll do one or two more intense schooling days and then a few easy days. It’s about going in waves – building up, taking a break, building up again, because that’s how his body works. His whole character is very genuine and he wants to do well and do what I ask him, so I make sure not to put too much pressure on him.”

Tokyo Olympic champion Julia goes into tomorrow’s cross-country with a unique accolade to her name: she’s won here at Aachen twice previously, yes, but she’s also done it with two thirds of today’s podium. She won the CHIO CCIO4*-S in 2024 with Nickel, just before their selection for Paris, and in 2018 with fischerChipmunk FRH, en route to that year’s World Equestrian Games, after which the horse was bought out from under her and sent to Michael Jung.

“I really like riding here, and I try not to think too much about the package of the World Championship – if I get a medal in the end, then I’ll know the difference,” she says. “The better you start, though, the better the base, and there’s a lot that can happen but in the end, for a medal, even a tenth of a penalty can make a difference. You really just want to get every point you can.”

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Laura Collett and London 52 danced their way to overnight silver medal position with a score of 22.8 – a numerical value that proved that the ground jury wasn’t going to succumb to Friday afternoon marking, but also wouldn’t be averse to rewarding where reward was warranted. It might not be the lofty heights – or is that basement lows? – of the high teens, where both she and Michi have previously found themselves, but it’s also just 0.8 penalties off the lead. That’s just two seconds on the clock behind a horse who hasn’t made the time since two-star, and ahead of a cross-country day where the time might not even be catchable.

The extraordinary atmosphere of the grass dressage arena, which has been fashioned within the combined driving arena, even affected consummate showman ‘Dan’ today, and the pair had a step of jog in the walk work that wasn’t particularly influential in their scores.

“It was a shame, because he actually felt relaxed up until that point, but he kind of knows [the canter] is coming and just slightly anticipated,” says Laura. “But he felt really with me and rideable, and once he got into the canter he was lovely. He loves it here – he loves an atmosphere, and he loves lots of people, so he’s right at home when everyone’s clapping. He loves walking over here, with the vaulting arena and the main arena and this arena, where you can hear all the crowds clapping.”

Their effort leads the way for the British team, who sit in gold medal position overnight on a score of 72.8, just ahead of the Germans in silver on 73.6.

Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Just behind Laura in bronze medal position is Michael Jung and his Paris Olympic champion fischerChipmunk FRH on a score of 23.

“I’m still very happy – Chipmunk is an amazing horse, and every day with him is to be enjoyed,” says Michi. “Today we’re not in the lead and maybe not everyone is so happy about that, but I’m still happy. We had a good test for sure; not everything went like we wished, but it’s not always like this.”

Though they led throughout much of the trot and walk work, it was a late mistake in the canter that saw them relinquish gold medal position.

“The third flying change was not our best. I tried to push him a little bit more forward and uphill, but then we lost a bit of the balance and had a little bit, maybe, of a misunderstanding for a part of a second. But I think that’s the only change I’ve ever ridden on him that hasn’t been good. This is [the reality of] horse and rider; this is connection – these five minutes are so important. Hopefully that was our last mistake.”

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

2023 European Champions Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo, too, sacrificed a mark or two in the canter work, though their mistake came at the second flying change.

“He decided he’d quite like to have a walk,” laughs Ros. “I think the changes are our trickiest thing, and always have been – and still now I wouldn’t say they’re 100% at home at all. So that’s a tricky test for him, because he really has to have a bouncy canter in order to have a clean change. I went for the bounce and got a walk instead. But you know what? I’m still pretty proud of the fact that he clawed it back and did the next two really well.”

Though ‘Walter’ is arguably the best event horse in the world right now – or perhaps ever – the first phase is the one that’s taken the most development. His score of 23.4 today is good enough for overnight fourth, and on a par with his last few years’ worth of top-level scores but, says Ros, “he’s quite a blood horse and he naturally wants to be a little bit on his forehand, which is why he gallops so well – but it’s taken time and lots of practice for him to start to really dance. He loves to drop his tummy, which is what he does when he gallops and which is what makes him such a streamlined galloper, so it’s been a lot of core work to make him strong. I think there’s more in him yet, and I feel very proud that he can be so close to the top of the leaderboard. He’s an amazing partner to have.”

The 2018 World Champion and her five-time five-star winner – the most-decorated event horse in history – head into their best phase just 1.4 penalties, or roughly four seconds, off the leading spot. On a day when the time will be potentially uncatchable, this is one horse who feels preordained to get as close as proves possible.

Nicolas Touzaint and Diabolo Menthe. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The top five after the first phase is completed by day one leaders Tom McEwen and JL Dublin on their score of 26.6, creating a surprisingly wide 3.2 penalty margin, while France’s evergreen Nicolas Touzaint and his Paris mount, Diabolo Menthe, are piggybacking into sixth place on a tight 26.7.

For them, too, the canter work was the biggest story of the test.

“I know the horse is technically spot on, and the test was really good, but we had a slight issue with one of the flying changes, and I’m annoyed with myself because he usually does them like clockwork,” laments Nicolas, who dropped down to marks of five for that third change. “I was the one rushing things a bit. The rest was really good, and I felt he was with me.”

By the time we reached this busy afternoon session, the Grand Prix Special in the main stadium had resumed after its siesta and that class, too, was heading into its zenith, creating a pressure-cooker atmosphere punctuated by uproarious screams and cheering with little warning. That was an anomaly that had popped up notably in the moments before Ros and Walter entered the ring, and its sudden intrustion was never far from Nicolas’s mind as he entered the arena a few tests prior.

“I was worried because there was a lot of noise coming from the stadium next door, but he stayed focused on me and was brilliant. I really felt like I was executing my plan, and it’s a great result for me and for the team. The points put us right in the mix – we’re not leading, but we aren’t trailing, either.”

France goes into cross-country in bronze medal position, though they’re being closely hunted: New Zealand is just three-tenths of a penalty behind them in fourth place at this stage of the competition.

Andrew Hoy and Vassily de Lassos celebrate yet another milestone moment in a storied career. Photo by Haley Boothe/Impulsion Media. 

Australia’s line-up of largely inexperienced horses and riders, who are being developed for the future, is sitting a touch further back in provisional eighth place in the team competition, but one of their own broke into the top ten late this afternoon.

Andrew Hoy isn’t the only rider to return to Aachen this year as a veteran of the 2006 World Equestrian Games – Belgium’s Karin Donckers, the USA’s Phillip Dutton (then an Aussie himself), France’s Nicolas Touzaint, Austria’s Harald Ambros, Brazil’s Carlos Parro, and Denmark’s Peter Flarup were all competing here twenty years ago, too. But nobody boasts quite the same championship resume as Andrew: this is his ninth World Championship start, having made his debut at Lexington in 1978, and he’s been to ten Olympics, too.

The 67-year-old has no intention of slowing down, though, and nor does the seventeen-year-old Vassily de Lassos, who looked back on his best form after a few seasons slightly set apart from the spotlight. The Tokyo individual bronze medallist put forward his best-ever international score at any level this afternoon, posting a 26.9 to sit seventh overnight.

“I have the easy part, because I’ve got a complete team around me that have set the horse up absolutely beautifully – all I had to do was focus on what I needed to do, and go and do it,” says Andrew. “I can’t take the credit myself. Vassily is an amazing horse – I’m getting emotional, but he’s just very, very special. Every day I learn a new way with him; I learn to understand him and his body and how to set him up for something like this.”

It’s not, he continues, “just about going in and riding the movements – it’s about preparing the horse in the correct way, so that he has the ability to do his best, and I think apart from one small mistake where he just tripped at the end of the medium trot, there was nothing to add today.”

But the writing wasn’t always on the wall for the best test of their partnership.

“This morning we were doing some gymnastic exercises and I said to [my trainer], ‘I’ve lost him – I’ve lost him mentally.’ It wasn’t that I couldn’t go and ride the movements, it was just that he was focused on other things,” explains Andrew. So, he continues, adaptability was key: “we relocated to another arena, did five minutes’ work, and left it at that. If I’m asked what’s the one thing I’ve learned in all my time in this industry, it’s that you’ve got to give the horses time.”

Tamie Smith and Lillet 3. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The best of the bunch for the strong US front is individual rider Tamie Smith, who posted a 27 with the ten-year-old former Andreas Dibowski ride Lillet 3 to step into eighth place overnight.

“You don’t know what they’re going to do in an atmosphere like that, but she was like a seasoned pro in there,” says Tamie of her Kentucky CCI4*-S winner. “She’s so young and wouldn’t have ever seen something like that, and so I’m so proud of her. Her trot work was just so fluid, and the highlight was that she stayed with me every stride. She was like, ‘like this? Like this?’ and I’m like, ‘yes! Like that! Keep going!’”

Tamie made a bold decision that paid off in the ring, opting to ride the mare in a double bridle for the first time.

“This is my first time competing in it, but we’ve been playing around a little bit,” says Tamie. “I’ve had a lot of time in the UK with her, so we’ve been experimenting and she really liked it.”

Tamie has been in the UK since the end of May, when she travelled over with a small string of horses, and daughter Kaylawna and student Molly Duda, who owns Lillet 3, to aim for a series of competitions. For Molly, that was the recent Under-25 World Championships at Millstreet, where she finished in the top ten; for Tamie, it was a visit to Bramham for Lillet, where a surprise fall ended their weekend early, and they’ve been on the up and up again ever since.

New Zealand’s Jonelle Price and Senor Crocodillo move into ninth place with yesterday’s score of 27.2, while Thursday’s best scorers for France, Alexis Goury and Je’Vall, round out the top ten on their 28.5.

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

For US team riders Will Coleman and Boyd Martin, the starting point of the week might not have been heralded in with fireworks, but their scores still see them sit in close contention for a climb. For Will and his Kentucky five-star winner Diabolo, it’s overnight 21st place after a slightly surprising 30, a touch off the pace of the 27.3 that began their Kentucky campaign.

“There were some good things, but he just maybe had a hard time putting the whole test together today,” says Will, who rode in some of the worst of today’s weather, when temperatures soared over 100 degrees. “I kind of anticipated him going in there and responding to the crowd and the atmosphere, and he really just didn’t. He was almost a little lazy for bits of his test, and then the only place where he was a little bit crowd sensitive was during the walk, so that was a bit of a hairy walk tour. I was on eggshells for most of that, but we did the best we could.”

It is, he points out, “his first championship, and he’s a great horse who can hopefully have two more good days, and that’s all we’re going to focus on.”

Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

For Boyd and the former Liz Halliday ride Cooley Nutcracker, it was a 30.9 and overnight 25th.

“I was pretty pleased with it,” says Boyd. “You always dream of like, this perfect test, and I felt like I got a lot of good work in there and one or two moments I wish I could redo. But all in all, I’m really pleased with him. He’s a quirky horse – he’s a very quiet, laid-back horse in the stable, and then when you’re riding him, people move. He’s so sharp and quick, and the best thing about him is that when you go into the competition ring, he’s really focused. I never worry about his shenanigans in the warm-up, and I’ve got immense belief in him that when it’s time to perform, he puts his head down and does a good job.”

This is Bali’s second time doing an Olympic short test: he contested the inaugural version in Paris two years ago, and Boyd did, too, with Fedarman B. Today, it became a test of their flourishing fledgling partnership.

“I underestimated how brilliant of a job Liz did on him, because I was at Paris with Bruno and Liz was there with this guy, and she made it look so easy,” says Boyd. “It’s been a humbling experience because I’ve been working and working and working and only just nearly got him back to where she had him. It’s still a work in progress.”

One way that Boyd prepared for today’s test was by riding through its movements with wife Silva and her dressage horses.

“Every two years we do this canter half-pass, flying change, canter half-pass [movement in a test]. You do it and then you sort of forget about it, and then a couple of months before a championship you’re like ‘holy moly, how do you actually do this?!’ So being able to ride Silva’s Grand Prix and Inter I horses and just get the feeling of how it’s supposed to feel is something I can then try and picture when I’m riding Bali.”

With 87 scores logged, we now look ahead to the week’s most pivotal challenge: Giuseppe della Chiesa’s 5600m, 28 fence cross-country course, which looks set to pair all of Aachen’s usual intensity into a longer, 9:50 effort. We’ll be bringing you a much deeper dive into the track, with insights from riders and course designer alike, so keep it locked on EN. Until then: Go Eventing!

The top ten individually after dressage.

The team leaderboard following cross-country.

A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

FEI Eventing World Championships for Seniors (Aachen, Germany): [Website] [Tickets] [Definite Entries by Country] [Timing & Team Scores] [Live Scoring] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [Live Stream] [Official App – Apple] [Official App – Android] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Nations Form Guide] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Kentucky Performance Products]

Jillian Giessen Has the Thoroughbred Bug at FEI Eventing World Championships

By on Aug 14, 2026 1:59 pm -

Jillian Giessen and Seattle Park. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The Thoroughbred has long been a hallmark within the sport of eventing, but as the sport has evolved we’ve seen a shift to horses with, yes, strong Thoroughbred blood but with additional influence from various warmblood lines. With the removal of the dressage coefficient in 2018, the sport went through another evolution. The standard was higher, the scores were tighter, and the Thoroughbred once more stood out as one of the best types of horses an eventer could have on cross country.

A few Thoroughbreds feature on the entry list for this week’s FEI Eventing World Championships at Aachen (Germany) and one of those is ridden by Jillian Giessen, making her Worlds debut for the Netherlands this week with the 13-year-old Australian Thoroughbred gelding Seattle Park (Reset – Sealers Cove, by Brief Truce).

Jillian hasn’t historically ridden many Thoroughbreds. While in the UK working for British five-star rider Andrew Downes, she had the “golden” opportunity to team up with his four-star Thoroughbred, Gold Nugget. This gave her the chance to gain valuable experience at her first four-star events; the pair competed in the CCI4*-L at Blenheim in 2023 and spent the better part of two seasons together.

Photo by Tilly Berendt.

These days, Jillian works as a rider for Lips Stables, the home base of Dutch father-son duo Martin and Tim Lips. Martin, she described, is a massive fan of, in particular, Australian Thoroughbreds.

“He used to ride Thoroughbreds from Australia and New Zealand,” Jillian said. “And of course Tim had his horse, Keyflow, who took him around a lot of big courses. So they are big fans of the Thoroughbred.”

It was a happenstance run-in with Australian rider Sophia Hill (who’s also competing here, on her Thoroughbred Humble Glory, at Aachen this week) at Bicton a few years back that made the first connection to Seattle Park. The gelding had competed up to the four-star level with Sophia, and she’d brought him over from Australia with her as she prepped Humble Glory for the Paris Olympics, in case she was called up to the team from the long list.

Jillian and “Basil” earned a 33.6 in their World Championships debut dressage. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“Martin said to her, ‘if you ever want to sell one of your Australian Thoroughbreds, you can call me,'” Jillian continued. “And she called, and we ended up trying ‘Basil’ as we call him. So that’s how he ended up in our stable. I’m really, really happy that I could have the opportunity to ride such a super horse. And I mean, I think he’s really loved because she saw him for the first time here again, and she had a cry. I thought that was really sweet.”

Forming a partnership with a horse who had gone four-star with another rider isn’t an easy task, but luckily Seattle Park came with a full instruction manual: “It was really kind of Sophia to send me a whole list of what she did and what she wouldn’t do and what she like liked to do,” Jillian described with a laugh. “I tried to just take that as much as possible in the whole routine because I really believe with a horse like that you cannot just change anything. I read the list really thoroughly. I was like, ‘okay, this I should do, this not.’ She’s like, ‘he doesn’t like to be alone,’ so okay, I never go somewhere alone. It was really sweet of her, and it actually really helped me a lot. So I just tried to slowly take him into our system, but actually, he’s one horse that really has like his system around him. He’s the king of the stable, and he knows it.”

Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Now, Jillian is along for the ride with a horse who’s now taken her to her first senior Championship. Previously, Jillian had competed in the Pony European Championships back in 2015, so this next step is a big one for the 26-year-old. And to do it with a horse she’s built such a partnership with, after years of selling on horses or riding other people’s horses, makes it all the more impactful.

“He’s really, really special,” she said. “I think we took our time to get a partnership, and I think he really has a partnership with me, and I really have a partnership with him. I love him to bits, and I sometimes think he loves me too — he looks happy out of the stable when I’m coming, so I hope that’s also due to me.”

A huge thank you to Kentucky Performance Products, who are supporting this week’s coverage. You can learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional solutions here.

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