Thursday, 13 August 2026
With the excitement of yesterday’s dressage team silver still fresh in the British contingent’s minds, today saw the turn of the eventing combinations to get their campaign underway at the FEI World Eventing Championships in Aachen, Germany. With temperatures topping out at 35oC today, our two starting combinations kept their cool to deliver strong performances and give Britain the lead both individually and jointly in the team rankings with New Zealand.
It’s been eight years since Gemma Stevens last donned her British colours for a championship team appearance – Tryon World Championships where she won team gold – and with Flash Cooley, owned by Pru Dawes, she’s been masterminding her return for the past two years. The striking grey has been in a purple patch of form at four-star level of late – he’s been first or second in his last five starts, all finishing on his dressage score. In addition, finishing third in Aachen’s annual CHIO last season shows he enjoys the venue.
Taking on the pathfinder role for your country is never a simple task but Performance Manager Richard Waygood has in Gemma someone with all the right credentials. As she cantered into the dressage arena with her diminutive ‘pocket rocket’, she appeared totally at ease with the responsibility – in the mid-morning sunshine, ‘Casper’ was an absolute picture thanks to the skills of groom Georgie Driver. They started in a forward rhythm and the movements flowed well. The halt was square and immobile, followed by even steps in the rein-back.
The Irish-bred gelding’s walk tour was relaxed and well presented by Gemma, and the transition into canter was well placed. She really went for the extended canter, which ate up the ground, and he came back to her well. The flying changes were correct, right up until the final centre line, when the horse thought he was halting at the top of the centre line. However, Gemma was quick to correct him and managed to get the required flying change. A final square halt brought the test to an end, and the crowd showed their appreciation for a job well done and super start for the team.
The final score was 70.69%, which translates to 29.3 penalties to put her second at the early stages.
“I’m over the moon with all of it, apart from that last centre line. It was such a shame and a misunderstanding – he thought we were halting. It was hot today and he’d probably had enough by then, so came up the centre line and went to stop, and I went ‘no, no, we’ve got to do a flying change’, so everything got a bit muddled. It was a real shame to lose that last mark because that’s actually been one of his highlights in training, but the rest of it was so good. He was so relaxed and with me, and a real pleasure to ride,” explained Gemma.
“We’ve been working towards this and it’s been the plan since the start of 2025. I literally worked out a plan for the whole of that year and the whole of this year leading up, and it’s pulled off, which is cool,” she reflected.
Second up for Britain was Tom McEwen and the now-seasoned JL Dublin, owned by James and Jo Lambert and Deirdre Johnston, who were making their fourth consecutive championship appearance together – but a first at World Championship level. Tom has very carefully orchestrated his campaign with ‘Dubs’ this season and chosen his competitions with Aachen very much in mind. Two wins in his last CCI4* outings have ideally set the pair up to take on the world’s best.
Tom cantered Dubs into the arena to a round of polite applause, which gave the bay gelding a real spring in his step despite the 35oC heat. The start was active and Tom used the first extended trot to set the tone for the test – power, flow and balance. The shoulder-in to half-pass was well ridden and the judges kept the sevens coming, then the halt to rein-back was relaxed and accurate. The second line of half-pass to shoulder-in was better, with clear changes of bend. The extended walk showed relaxation and purpose and into canter. As in his extended trot, Tom was brave in his extended canter, which earned an eight from one judge.
The changes were secure and accurate until the final one on the centre line, when it looked as though the same thing was going to happen to Tom as to Gemma, but it was quickly corrected. The final halt was met with a huge round of applause from the crowd, which had a very British feel, with plenty of Union flags being waved.
It was a secure, assured test, but the judges hadn’t been overly generous with the marks all day, so it wasn’t going to be a personal best. However, was it enough to take the lead individually and put Britain in the medal hunt? An aggregate percentage of 73.4% gave a final penalty score of 26.6 – enough for the lead individually. They held that position for the rest of the day to be overnight leaders.
“Dubs always delivers,” said Tom. “There was actually a bit more atmosphere than I was expecting to begin with. He was a bit lit up when I went in there – I could feel it straight away when I kept trying to trot and he kept popping into canter, so I wasn’t quite where I wanted to be. But he delivered a really good test. It’s a shame because I know I can come out and deliver a 21 or a 22, but coming back out with a 26 is great for the team and I’m really, really pleased with him.
“He’s been annoyed by the flies all week and he’s been really struggling with them. I know when he’s completely with me because he’s not paying any attention to the flies, but I could feel him starting to go and I thought ‘oh no, we’ve lost all concentration’. It’s a tough test and it was our one big mistake, which was a real shame. I’m really, really pleased with the rest – obviously, we know he can do bigger bits in other areas, but I’m really pleased,” he explained.
In the team standings after two riders, the lead is split between Great Britain and New Zealand, with a team total of 55.9. Germany is in third place with 59.9, with Switzerland fourth on 61.6 and France complete the top five on 64.1. Individually, Jonelle Price and Senor Crocodillo lie second for New Zealand on 27.2, while France’s Alexis Goury completes the podium with Je’vall on 28.5.
Up for Britain tomorrow are reigning European champions Laura Collett and London 52 at 12:24 (11:24 BST), individual pairing Caroline Harris and D.Day, who make their world championship debut at 12:52 (11:52 BST) and Ros Canter riding Lordships Graffalo as the penultimate combination of the day at 16:46 (15:46).
Some three years in the making, Urssie Levett got her World Championship campaign underway in the spectacular Arena 3 at Aachen. Aged 18, she decided to leave home and base herself with her vaulting coach, two-time world champion Paula Reidl, here in Aachen – a huge upheaval at a young age, but it was something she had to do to follow her dream.
With Paula as her lunger, Urssie elected to use her mum Jenny’s horse, Shannondale Jedi, making her first senior world championship as an individual extra-special. Urssie, Paula and Jedi entered the ring, with Urssie looking amazing in a bejewelled Union flag catsuit. The start signal was made and Paula started Jedi on his circle in canter. The compulsory test features eight movements, including flag, mill and scissors, with each judged out of ten. There’s also a mark for the horse, which counts to 25% of the total mark.
With grace and athleticism, Urssie delivered the movements and looked on track to have the ideal start to the three-phase competition. However, towards the end, in the swing and stem phase, she just didn’t quite pull off the ‘flank first part’ move as she wanted, which just pegged the marks back. From the eight judges, she earned a final score of 6.754, which left her in 33rd place from 46 starters.
“It was a bit disappointing really,” reflected Urssie. “I made one quite costly error at the end. The vaulting was good, but not quite what I had in warm up, so that’s always frustrating. It was lovely to compete with Jedi today because we have a special connection.
“It was an okay round, but we’re looking forward to the next one. Jedi was super today, really with us, and we couldn’t be more proud of him,” she ended.
Urssie, Jedi and Paula are in action in the technical test tomorrow morning at 09:35 (08:35 BST).
With temperatures set to hit the mid-30s or higher tomorrow, there was an official statement released by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) this afternoon, stating that the timings of Grand Prix Special to decide the individual dressage medals had been altered. In the best interests of equine welfare, the class will now start at 08:30 instead of 10:50, and there will be a long break during the hottest part of the day, with competition resuming at 15:00 (all European time).
The change only impacts Becky Moody and Jagerbomb, who now ride at 11:46 (10:46 BST). Carl Hester and Fame go after the break at 15:22 (14:22 BST), while Lottie Fry and Glamourdale are at 16:28 (15:28 BST).
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