Sunday, 21 September 2025
After three days of intense competition against the iconic backdrop of Blenheim Palace, the Agria FEI Eventing Championship 2025 all came down to the final showjumping phase. This was the day when medals would be won and names would be written into the history books.
With four of the six British squad members out of the competition, national hopes rested on overnight leaders Laura Collett and London 52, and Tom McEwen with JL Dublin in third.
The first item on the agenda for Sunday was the final horse inspection, where the ground jury and veterinary delegate checked over the remaining horses to ensure they were fit, well and ready to continue with the competition after the previous day’s cross-country test. There was one withdrawal overnight from the Italian team, which reduced them to a team of three, but otherwise all horses passed with flying colours.
The two remaining British combinations, Laura Collett and London 52 and Tom McEwen with JL Dublin, flew through, both looking very fresh and beautifully turned out by their grooms Tilly Hughes and Adam Short respectively.
Today’s showjumping was set over two sessions and, after the morning group, it was clear that Paul Connor’s track was a real championship test, with poles falling across the course and the time allowed was proving exceptionally tight.
Gloucestershire born-and-bred Tom McEwen is renowned for his laid-back approach and cool head, but it was going to be tested today. With James and Jo Lambert and Deirdre Johnston’s JL Dublin, Tom’s week had gone to plan thus far. A competitive dressage, then clear and quick cross country round, had left them in strong contention for an individual placing. So, all that remained was to tick the box of a faultless jumping round.
Tom had the reassurance that he was sat on probably one of the best horses over the coloured poles in the sport but, as Saturday’s cross-country showed, anything can happen in the unpredictable sport of eventing.
The two competitors below Tom, Germany’s Calvin Böckmann and Lea Siegl for Austria, were tied in fourth on 36.5 after two phases and both jumped impressive clear rounds to keep the pressure on Tom, who didn’t have a fence in hand. He simply had to go clear to stay on the podium.
Tom and ‘Dubs’ cantered into the huge arena to a warm reception from the home crowd and, after a halt and salute to the judges’ box, they were on their way. The first two fences were confidently cleared and they got a good shot at the wide parallel at three. The five related strides from four to five rode perfectly. The distance in the Agria treble was riding short, so Tom collected Dubs back to get the positioning spot-on. Conscious of the time, Tom picked up the pace, but without pushing the natural rhythm. Turning away from the Palace, they were super over the double at eight, the related distance to the upright at nine, then the tight turn back at 10. Two fences to go. Fence 11 was the National Lottery fence – a wide spread over a water tray beside the hospitality tent – but Dubs couldn’t be distracted from his course. The final Agria oxer was also cleared in style and the clock stopped at 77.01, comfortably inside and one of the fastest of the day. Tom was guaranteed a place on the podium.
Sandwiched between the British duo was three-time European individual champion Michael Jung for Germany, who was eager to add a fourth gold to his tally. Michael is certainly one of the best horsemen of this generation and jumps at international Grand Prix level, so he has the skill but, in fischerChipmunk FRH, did he have the partner? Of course he did – they are reigning Olympic champions, after all. They simply purred round, only giving one fence a feather touch, but it never looked like falling and they ended their campaign on 28.3.
And so it would be down to Laura Collett to jump a clear to take her first senior individual gold medal. Laura has collected medals up the age groups throughout her career, including Junior and Young Rider individual golds, but a senior gold is the one missing from her trophy cabinet. Of course, she wanted to win for herself, but probably even greater was the desire to see her horse of a lifetime, London 52 and his owners Karen Bartlett and Keith Scott, take the gold medal they so richly deserved. They’d come close at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but had to settle for individual bronze behind Michael and ‘Chipmunk’, so there was a score to settle for the Gloucestershire rider.
Laura was majestic in coping with intense pressure yesterday around the cross-country. When the British campaign hadn’t gone to plan with the exception of Tom and Dubs, the hopes of the British eventing community had rested on her and ‘Dan’ to deliver something special and they did just that. However, cantering into the Blenheim arena and jumping for that individual title she’d dreamt of for so long was a whole new level of pressure.
As the crowd settled after the excitement of Michael and Chipmunk’s clear, Laura cantered in and the watery sunshine caught her bejeweled riding hat, adding extra sparkle as she circled towards the first fence. It was jumped well but, as they took the right-hand dog-leg turn to fence two, Dan fought for his head. Laura sat quietly, trusting him to jump the fence. Three was cleared and they kept up a positive rhythm throughout the five-stride related distance of fences four and five. Dan has a huge canter stride, so the short-distance treble at six would take some patient riding, but they soared over all three fences without incident.
They had to stretch over the wide oxer at seven, the FEI fence, but it was easily within Dan’s athletic ability, and the final double was cleared. On to nine, a tricky upright and the tight turn back to ten, both jumped well. As they went over the National Lottery oxer, the crowd began to sense a clear. Laura’s eyes stayed fixed on the final Agria spread fence, looking for her perfect stride… three, two, one, over! She and Dan effortlessly flew over it and they’d left all the poles standing. A quick, nervous glance to the scoreboard showed they were a second over the time to add 0.4, but it was enough to take the gold and the crowd erupted, frantically waving their Union flags.
After four days of fierce competition, with each phase proving influential, the final podiums had been decided.
The final individual standings look like:
Tom summed his feelings up with; “Dubs has gone phenomenally well and I couldn’t be happier with him. We’ve been beaten by possibly two of the greatest horses that have been around in our sport. You do your best, and that’s where we’re at.
“After a week that hasn’t possibly been our own [the British], to come home with two medals is absolutely fantastic. We came as a six and we leave as a six, and it’s been team spirit throughout. I’m absolutely delighted for Laura and my own performance with Dubs. He’s a pretty chilled character and strangely he’s never been to Blenheim, so I couldn’t be happier with how he’s come out and performed in every aspect. On the day, he was beaten by two better horses and I’m still very happy with him.”
An emotional Laura struggled to get her words together but, through happy tears, she said, “I can’t tell you how much I’ve wanted this, mainly for the horse because every time I made the team I let him down, so to finally pull it off and give him the championship he deserves – the words aren’t really there. At my first five-star win in Pau in 2020, I said if he never does anything more, he’s done more than I could have ever dreamed of. To think what he’s done in those five years since is more than I could have ever dreamed. I can’t really say it’s a dream come true because I don’t think I could have even dreamed it!
“This [medal] tops everything! I was so close in Paris last year, and to come back and have another head-to-head with Michi (Michael Jung) is what make this sport so special and these horses so unbelievably special. To keep coming back and producing the results they do, come out and perform time and time again, is unreal.
“It’s so special just to be at a home championship, and it’s quite a local event for me as well. Just that in itself felt special this week, but to be sat on a horse like him and come up with the goods is crazy,” she summed up. Laura has now won nine European Championship gold medals over a 20 year period – at Pony, Junior, Young Rider and Senior level – making her part of a very small, select club of athletes.
In the team standings, the Germany proved untouchable for a sixth team gold. Ireland showed their jumping prowess to move from seventh after the dressage to claim the silver, while France knocked Switzerland off the podium with a good day in the jumping arena.
You can catch up on all the action from every phase of the Agria FEI Eventing European Championships on FEI.TV, powered by ClipMyHorse.TV. The weekend’s cross-country and showjumping action will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer for 30 days. Find all the results on the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials website, plus everything you need to know about the British squad and the competition is on our online Eventing Hub.