Sunday, 16 August 2026
Sunday’s eventing finale at the FEI World Championships in Aachen was a fitting end to a rollercoaster week, but the one constant throughout has been the British team leading the competition from start to finish. In a thrilling showjumping final phase, the team of Ros Canter, Laura Collett, Tom McEwen and Gemma Stevens claimed gold on 84.0 penalties, taking the win by over 11 penalties from hosts Germany with 95.6, with Team USA in bronze on 113.5.
Germany’s Michael Jung scored a popular home-side gold in the individual competition, but the Brits chased him all the way, with Ros Canter in silver with Lordships Graffalo, and Laura Collett and London 52 completing the podium for bronze.
From an original field of 88 combinations from 27 countries, 59 of those remained following an influential day across the country on Guiseppe Della Chiasa’s course on Saturday. Today’s jumping test was designed by Aachen regular Frank Rothenberger, and the 13-obstacle course with 16 jumping efforts and a 91-second optimum time made full use of the expansive grass arena.
As the first group of riders went, it became obvious that clear rounds would be hard to come by.
Britain’s first combination to grace the arena was nominated individuals, Caroline Harris and D. Day, owned by Lucy Matthews, breeder Fiona Olivier, Marie-Anne Richardson and Heather Royle. They had a fantastic spin around the cross-country yesterday to add just 1.2 time penalities to their 32.6 dressage score, which saw them climb from 38th after dressage to 14th overnight. D. Day has a strong showjumping record, but rubbing fence one didn’t get them off to the ideal start. They then had the first part of the double down at five, so it was eight penalties to add to their score for a final three-phase total of 41.8.
A slightly disconsolate Caroline said after her round; “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed – he’s not had a rail down for three years. I did get myself back together and ride a better second half, though. Look, it’s been an amazing week, but I’m just disappointed to finish on that note. It’s been absolutely incredible and to part of such an amazing team and with such great people, I’ve learnt loads.”
Next up would be the all-important first team member in the form of stalwarts Tom McEwen with James and Jo Lambert and Deidre Johnston’s JL Dublin. The duo was pure class yesterday, adding just two time penalties to their dressage score of 26.6 after taking a long route to get a safe clear, which was still enough to promote them one place up the leaderboard. They entered the arena in fifth position individually, so a clear would help their own medal aspirations in addition to keeping the pressure on for team gold. Armed with information from fourth team member Gemma Stevens, who sadly didn't complete yesterday's cross-country course but had been watching today's action keenly from the sidelines, the pair set off and seemed to be jumping well. They had an unfortunate rail down at the day’s bogey fence – 12, a full height spread fence with a water tray – but finished well inside the time allowed to bring their total to 32.6. It would be a costly rail individually, but a safe score for the team.
On to Laura Collett and London 52, who she owns with Karen Bartlett and Keith Scott, who were making their seventh consecutive championship appearance and in search of some more medals to add to their impressive collection. A 22.8 dressage left them in the runners-up spot going into cross-country, when they had a barnstormer of a round until ‘Dan’ dislodged a front shoe, which caused him to slip in several places. Laura got him home safely, but they finished two seconds over the optimum time to add 0.8 of a penalty, meaning they brought a score of 23.6 forward from third position.
This did give them the luxury of a fence and some time faults in hand going into the final phase if they wanted to keep the bronze. Their round was going perfectly, with the German-bred gelding jumping well but, as they approached fence 12, he suddenly caught sight of the water tray and spooked. Laura was quick to correct him and she managed to keep him straight – he lowered the pole, but disaster was averted. They also picked up 0.4 of a time fault, but a final score of 28.0 was enough to guarantee them an individual medal.
The final British duo to jump was Ros Canter with Archie and Michele Saul’s Lordships Graffalo. Their faultless cross-country display was one of Saturday’s rounds of the day – they made it look so simple, climbing two places up the leaderboard in the process. With the team gold all but safe barring disaster, it was down to Ros to jump clear for an individual medal. ‘Walter’ doesn’t have a conventional jumping style, but he gets the job done and today they never looked like touching a pole, with Ros expertly guiding him round for a superb clear to finish on their dressage score of 23.4 and, at worst, individual silver to go with the guaranteed team gold medal.
The final pairing in and looking to jump for team silver and individual gold was the home nation hero, Michael Jung with veteran fischerChipmunk FRH, who brought forward a score of 23.0 after an sublime trip across the country. The crowd came to a hush as they entered the arena and eagerly followed their progress around the course. There were a few brushes, but the rails stayed firmly in the cups and they were inside the time, meaning the title belonged to ‘Michi’ – his second World individual title, with the last one being 2010.
The silver went to Ros, while Laura completed the individual podium. In the team competition, Great Britain took the gold in convincing style with over 11 penalties in hand. Silver went to Germany, while the team from the USA climbed from fifth after cross-country to third to take bronze.
Qualification to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games was also at stake. As well as the gold and silver team medallists, Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden and Belgium all booked their tickets to LA28 – the USA automatically qualify as hosts.
After the medal ceremony, Tom gave his take on the round and his week in Aachen: “I probably should have had bit more leg on [into the fence] – it’s a shame, but I’ve finished fourth so many times that I’m pleased not to have done it again. We’ve achieved what we came to do, which was team gold, and we’ve done it as well as possible – awesome stuff. I’m delighted with all the horses and the whole team, and this group of riders has been absolutely awesome. I couldn’t be happier.”
Laura declared it mission accomplished today: “Dan jumped absolutely incredibly in there, so I have no idea why he did what he did! He hadn’t done it [spook at a water tray] before Tokyo and he hasn’t done it since! He’s been faultless all week and I’m just delighted that it didn’t change the standings. We came here to win team gold and we’ve added a few extras. The horses and the people have been phenomenal all week, so we’re just very lucky to be part of one hell of a team,” she declared.
There has been a great deal of talk about the incredible partnership of Ros and Lordships Graffalo, or ‘Walter’ to his friends, and Ros was quick to heap praise on the British bred star: “From the word go, I absolutely loved him. We complement each other well – the things he’s really fantastic at, like going fast, are my weaknesses, but dressage, which he wouldn’t particularly love, is one of my strengths,” she explained.
“Having his supportive owners behind him is fantastic. Michele and Archie Saul have been in the sport for many years with lots of different horses and they’re fully behind what we do. We all know Walter loves Badminton and Burghley, but for him to prove what he can do over three phases in a competition like this makes him the ultimate event horse,” said Ros.
The final word on the British Equestrian eventing team’s exploits in Aachen must go to Performance Manager Richard Waygood: “It’s really easy to sit here now and say our first target was Olympic qualification, but we came here with a lot of weight and expectation on top of soft shoulders. For these guys to deal with that weight and expectation is incredible. We’ve all worked together so often and we know each other so well – it’s a lovely group to work with. It’s really hard to explain, but the team spirit is incredible.”
After six intense days of competition, with medals in dressage, eventing and vaulting, Monday is a change-over day at the Aachen showground as we welcome in the athletes and horses for driving, jumping and para dressage. However, there’s still plenty to do on the showground in the form of Allianz Park Day, which is a festival of horses for the whole family.
For Britain’s jumpers, there’s the small matter of their first horse inspection in the early evening before their competition gets underway on Wednesday.
Find out everything you need to know about Aachen and the championships via our online hub and follow British Equestrian on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok for full digital of the competition.
You can watch all the action live on FEI.TV, powered by ClipMyHorse.TV, with a subscription. All the start lists and results are available via Longines Timing or on the Aachen 2026 app.
The funding that the British Equestrian World Class Programme receives from the National Lottery and UK Sport is pivotal in preparing our teams for senior championships and supporting them on the ground.
British Equestrian is also extremely grateful for the support we enjoy from our partners – Agria, Bates Saddles, Dodson & Horrell, NAF, SEIB and Toggi – and team suppliers – Equi-Trek, Jaecoo and Lotus Romeo.