It took a great stadium to bring these Eventing World Championships to a close. Aachen had one. It also took nerves, horses still fresh enough, and a few discreet prayers in front of Frank Rothenberger’s verticals. Michael Jung gave Germany the perfect script with fischerChipmunk FRH. Great Britain continued collecting team gold. Three French riders finished in the Top 10 and Andrew Hoy, at 67, once again refused to grow old. And a little further down the standings, three Belgians secured what they had come for: a ticket to Los Angeles 2028. Champagne compulsory.
There are Sundays when the show jumping simply confirms what the first two days had already told us.
And then there are Sundays when you need to hide your shaking hands. You have understood what kind of Sunday this was.
Fifty-nine combinations, thirteen fences, sixteen efforts, 91 seconds allowed and an immense Main Stadium that already looks like an equestrian cathedral when empty. So with a world title and seven Olympic tickets to hand out, let’s just say the atmosphere had very little left in common with a quiet Sunday morning course walk.
Only thirteen combinations, 22% of the starters, managed to jump clear inside the time.
Frank Rothenberger had not put up standards just to decorate the grass.
Jung, Chipmunk and the almost too-perfect script
Michael Jung entered last.
Obviously.
Because a World Championship at home, in Aachen, with fischerChipmunk FRH in the lead and Rosalind Canter four tenths behind, could not decently end in the anonymity of mid-table.
The German could not afford a rail. Chipmunk touched two.
They stayed in the cups. When the Germanic gods decide to join in too…
The rest belongs to that fairly rare category of moments when an entire stadium understands exactly what it has just seen before the result is even displayed.
Clear round. Still on 23.0 points. World champion.
Rosalind Canter and Lordships Graffalo finished second on 23.4 points. Laura Collett and London 52 completed the podium on 28.0.
And Jung could finally breathe.
« He was jumping incredibly well. Normally, a double of verticals at the end of the course is not really what Chipmunk prefers, but he was fantastic. And you also need a little bit of luck on your side.. »
That little extra bit of luck, Aachen saw it pass by when the rails shook without falling.
But reducing this new coronation to a few kindly cups would obviously be rather bold.
Because fischerChipmunk FRH finished these World Championships exactly on his dressage score: 23.0 points.
The lowest winning score in an Eventing World Championship since 1980.
And for Michael Jung, this is a fifth individual gold medal won at the Olympic Games or a World Championship. Since his first world title in Kentucky in 2010, nine global championships have been contested.
Jung has won five of them.
A slight trend is beginning to emerge.
“I am speechless. Chipmunk is incredible. He does an excellent dressage test, he is fast across the country and he jumps like a showjumper: careful, powerful and athletic. It is a dream to ride him.”
At 18, fischerChipmunk FRH adds yet another line to a record that was already starting to run seriously short of space. Reigning Olympic champion, double individual European silver medallist in 2019 and 2025, he also erases an old memory.
Pratoni 2022.
Jung and he had gone into the final show jumping in the lead before seeing the title slip away.
Four years later, at home, no rail fell.
Sometimes, history has a fairly decent sense of scriptwriting.
« “Aachen is always very special. It is something huge to experience this in your own country. Having all the disciplines together makes the event even more special. There is so much adrenaline and the stadium has an incredible atmosphere. I was really emotional at the end.” »
It would take less than that.
Great Britain, again and Always
In the team competition, the British had started the week in front.
They finished it in front.
So much for suspense.
Laura Collett, Rosalind Canter, Gemma Stevens and Tom McEwen gave Great Britain another world title with 84.0 points, ahead of Germany (95.6) and the United States (113.5).
And the British did not just win.
They set a record.
Their 84.0 points are the best final score ever recorded by a team at a World Championship or Olympic Games, beating the 86.3 points already achieved by Great Britain in Tokyo.
Tom McEwen and JL Dublin had opened the final British phase with four faults. Laura Collett and London 52 then added 4.4 points.
Then Rosalind Canter and Lordships Graffalo produced the clear round.
Job done.
Since Tryon 2018, Great Britain has won four of the five team titles awarded at the Olympic Games or World Championships: Tryon 2018, Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024 and now Aachen 2026. s
Only Pratoni 2022 escaped them, with a fourth place.
At this level, it is not even a golden generation anymore.
It is a subscription.
Canter, four tenths and a year like no other
In the end, was missing four tiny tenths to Rosalind Canter.
Four tenths after a dressage test, a cross-country and a show jumping round.
In other words, nothing.
Or far too much when a certain Michael Jung decides not to add a single point to his score.
With Lordships Graffalo, second on 23.4 points, the Briton still leaves Aachen with individual silver and team gold.
Another line on the record of the horse she simply calls Walter.
« It feels very, very special. We know that Walter is on his way to becoming one of the best horses of all time. Every time I ride him in an atmosphere like this, the pressure builds. But I had a really good plan today. I know we have already won a lot, but I feel like I get to know him better each time. He is simply the most wonderful horse there is. »
But behind the sporting performance, this medal carries a much more intimate dimension.
Canter’s year has been marked by two major events: the birth of her child and the death of her father.
« This year has been full of highs and lows for our family. We lost my dad, I had a baby and everything happened very quickly. At the start of the week, everything was a bit of a blur, to be honest. I struggled to really get into the competition. »
Then the championship did its work.
The days passed, the standings tightened, and the British machine started working again the way it knows so well.
« The further the competition went, the more impossible it became not to be swept up by the excitement. Not just because we are here, but because we are part of Team GB. The atmosphere within the team is incredible. »
With two medals around her neck, the fog from the start of the week had had plenty of time to lift.
London 52, horse of a lifetime
Right behind, Laura Collett took bronze with London 52.
And there too, simply calling him a championship horse is starting to feel seriously reductive.
« He is absolutely the horse of a lifetime. Just to have been able to go to all the places he has taken me… To compete at a World Championship in Aachen was already a dream. And to leave here with two medals… »
London 52 now has a record that Collett herself seems to struggle to recite without needing to take a breath: European team gold, two Olympic team titles and several individual medals.
« Il y a dix ans, lorsque je l’ai acheté, je n’aurais jamais, jamais pu rêver qu’il accomplirait ne serait-ce que la moitié de tout ce qu’il a réalisé. Il adore le public et il adore se produire sur les plus grandes scènes. »
Aachen had offered him a fairly decent one.
And London 52, as so often, did not exactly look like he wanted to go home quietly.
No French Team left, but three french riders in the top 10
The French, for their part, lived through a much stranger championship.
There was no longer a French team in contention after the withdrawal of Diabolo Menthe.
No team ranking possible anymore.
But individually, the three French riders still in the competition produced a very nice group effort.
And even a three out of three in the Top 10.
Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza II delivered the best French performance with a superb fifth place.
Astier Nicolas and Alertamalib’Or finished eighth.
And Alexis Goury and Je’Vall took tenth place.
No team, then.
But three French riders among the ten best combinations at a World Championship.
There are far less elegant ways to save your Sunday.
Andrew Hoy, 67 and still unaware that he is supposed to age
Between those French riders slipped a gentleman who seems to have decided that the usual rules about age do not really apply to him.
Andrew Hoy. 67 years old. Sixth in the world.
You can read that sentence again. It still works.
With Vassily de Lassosthe Australian finished on 31.7 points.After a dressage score of 26.9, he added only 4.8 time penalties on the cross before jumping clear in the show jumping.
At 67, most people maybe watch eventing on television.
Andrew Hoy finished sixth in the world.
Everyone has their own Sunday.
Eighth… and yet heading to Los Angeles
And then, behind the medals, there was another competition.
Perhaps even more important for some nations.
The seven best teams in the championship, excluding the United States since they are already qualified as host nation for the Los Angeles Games, left Aachen with their Olympic qualification.
Great Britain. Germany. Ireland. Switzerland. New Zealand. Sweden. And Belgium.
The Belgians finished eighth in the final team standings with 175.7 points.
But with the United States third and already qualified as host nation, that eighth place was worth the seventh and final available ticket to Los Angeles 2028.
The Netherlands, ninth, remained behind.
That is the whole beauty, or cruelty, depending on the passport, of the final show jumping.
At the front, Michael Jung was jumping to become world champion.
A few rounds earlier, Lara de Liedekerke-Meier, Karin Donckers and Wouter De Cleene were already jumping for Los Angeles.
And while the champions would soon be receiving their medals, on the Belgian side another ceremony could begin.
The one with the bottles.
Because after three days spent watching the standings rise, fall and occasionally catch fire, opening the champagne felt less like folklore than medical advice.
“We did it. Honestly, we did it”
“We did it. Honestly, we did it. I am so happy. We believed in it, then we did not, then we really did not at all. And then, in fact, we still did it.”
Her Kiarado d’Arville is only ten.
And at these World Championships, he took on another dimension.
« Iam so proud of my horse, Kiarado d’Arville. At just ten years old, he still carried the team quite a lot yesterday and even a bit more today.” »
When she entered the arena, Lara obviously knew what was at stake. Without necessarily wanting to turn every obstacle into a calculator.
« “I knew, without really knowing exactly how many rails I could or could not have. And then afterwards, I had some great advice from Philippe Lacus. I think we had an incredible staff this week, everyone in the right place.” »
And she insists on one point: the three riders seen celebrating are only the visible part of the work.
« “This qualification, it is the three riders you see today, but they are the ones at the front of the stage.” »
Above all, this qualification completely changes the next two seasons.
« It had not happened to us for a very long time to qualify for the Games through the Worlds. I think the last time was in Kentucky in 2010. It gives such peace of mind to be able to build the horses next year, not burn them, prepare them and still aim for a good performance at the European Championship. So in the end, it changes everything. »
That may be the real treasure brought back from Aachen.
Time.
Three days in the lift
Because before the bubbles, Lara de Liedekerke had visited a few floors.
In both directions.
Individually, these Worlds did not give her everything she had hoped for.
« “It really is a rollercoaster, but that is high-level sport. I think that is why I am addicted, actually. Every time, I tell myself: ‘I am going to stop.’ Then afterwards, I keep going.” »
She had arrived in Aachen convinced that her horse was ready.
« “When we spoke at the start of the week, I really believed my horse was ready. He felt really good. On Thursday, he did an incredible dressage test.” »
Then the feeling became blurred.
« On Friday, with the Grand Prix Special going on at the same time, I had no horse anymore. I felt like everything we had worked on for months was no longer there. »
The individual disappointment settled in. The cross-country then reshuffled the cards. Teammates did not finish.
And the Olympic objective took up all the space.
“It has really been an emotional lift since we arrived. If you had told me at the start that we could sign for qualification, I would have signed straight away.”
Then came the Main Stadium.
The pressure.
And Kiarado answered present.
« He jumped phenomenally, incredibly. And I kept my nerve. We both rose to the occasion. It is really a very, very good moment that will remain engraved in my memory. »
Kai-Steffen Meier had kept three bullets
For Kai-Steffen Meier, the Belgian Chef d’Equipe, Sunday’s show jumping was not exactly a forgotten detail when he built his selection.
He knew that a World Championship could be decided there.
« “I knew very well that the show jumping in a World Championship was still going to be quite important.” »
After the cross, however, the situation had become frankly uncomfortable.
Then Sunday morning’s horse inspection slightly reshuffled the cards.
« After the inspection, we knew that the door was open just a tiny bit. We really had to do our utmost to put pressure on the Netherlands. »
What remained was execution.
And that is exactly what his three riders did.
« Wouter, Karin and Lara rode very, very well. We rode fast, the horses jumped well, they had recovered very well from yesterday. It was really a joy. »
Then the standings came in.
Belgium ahead of the Netherlands.
Los Angeles in the bag.
“To get qualification for L.A. through the big door of the World Championships is really something very, very good.”
And above all, it completely changes the next two seasons.
Four years earlier, Belgium had had to keep chasing its Olympic ticket. This time, the calendar can be built around performance rather than qualification.
« Today, we know we are going to Los Angeles. It is a little emotional when I say that. Now we can already take a team next year to the European Championship where we can really start working to go higher. We can focus much more on performance to really have a top result in L.A. »
Karin Donckers might well od it again
Nearby, Karin Donckers smiles.
First, she searched for the French word.
« It’s a big relief. »
A relief.
That’s it.
After a cross-country where Belgium had quickly lost a first combination, the pressure inevitably increased on the other three.
« When you lose the first rider on the cross, there is always more pressure on the others. Fortunately, we were not the only country. Many nations made mistakes, especially at the beginning.” »
Then came the horse inspection.
Every horse eliminated elsewhere potentially became a place gained.
And then, there was still the show jumping to do.
« The show jumping is always important. And we had three good jumping horses. I am so happy that we did it. »
At 55, the rider from Antwerp knows better than most what an Olympic qualification secured two years in advance represents.
She already has seven Olympic appearances to her name.
Los Angeles could be the eighth.
« I hope so. There is still a long road, but I also have horses at home. I have confidence in my ability to prepare horses. »
And above all, from now on, the Olympic clock is no longer running against Belgium.
« We now have time to prepare for the Olympic Games. It is good that the pressure has dropped a little, that we can prepare the horses in the right way and that everything does not absolutely have to be decided next year. I remember the preparation for the last Games: it is easier when qualification is already secured.. »
Karin Donckers in Los Angeles in 2028?
When you know the character, it is better not to bet against her too quickly.
Wouter De Cleene, World Championship on Sunday, public works on Monday
Then there’s Wouter De Cleene.
In an elite sport that is becoming more and more professionalised, his story has something deliciously anachronistic about it.
De Cleene is not a professional rider.
During the day, he works for a public works company that, among other things, builds roads in the Antwerp region.
Horses come after work.
His World Championships?
(©FEI)
He notably prepared them during the month of July.
Convenient: in Belgium, July happens to be the construction holidays.
And when asked whether he had to take holiday leave to come and spend this World Championship week in Aachen, he answered with a smile:
“I am lucky to have a kind boss.”
A few days later, there he was in the Main Stadium in Aachen, directly contributing to his country’s qualification for the Olympic Games.
Not exactly the usual lunch break.
After his show jumping round with Ragdoll de Tamise, De Cleene remained true to character.
No grand speech.
“It was not only me. It was the whole team.”
Above all, he insisted on the work done around the riders by the Belgian federation: psychological support, veterinary support, trainers, coaching and preparation.
« The federation works enormously hard. We also receive a lot of psychological support. I think everything is really well organised. »
As for Los Angeles?
No question of starting to book the hotel.
“It is not my job. I think that, in my situation, it will be difficult to go. But if Ragdoll continues like this… He really is a good horse. There are still two years. We will see. But first, perhaps let us enjoy this one.” »
Excellent idea.
Monday morning and the Antwerp roads can wait for a few bubbles.
