August 4, 2023 
The latest Longines World Ranking is out and the world top 10 is much the same as it was the previous month, with minor movements within the top 11. But there’s a more seismic shift happening on the world stage.
While Germany, France, USA, Ireland and Belgium continue to dominate the world top 100, two nations with considerably shallower talent pools have won the most championship medals since 2020.
Let’s start with the World Rankings.
Germany and France have the most riders in the world top 100 this month with 12 a piece, but dominate opposite ends of the ranking.
Germany has nine riders in the world top 50, a tougher standard to crack and the most of any nation, but none in the top 10. France has two in the top 10—Julien Epaillard (no. 2) and Simon Delestre (no. 6)—but only three in the world top 50.
USA is a close second with 11 riders in the top 100, including two in the top 10: McLain Ward (no. 5) and Kent Farrington (no. 8). It’s a notable drop from the 13 to 15 top 100 riders they were trending in 2021. While both Ireland and Belgium have 10 riders apiece on the list.
Given the numbers, and their show jumping records, you might assume that Germany, France, USA, Ireland and Belgium are the reigning show jumping super powers.
But the World Ranking only tells part of the story. Going by the plot line of recent global championships (from 2020 to 2023), a country’s depth of talent isn’t as telling as its horse power.
Take Sweden, the reigning Olympic and World team champions. The Swedes only have four riders in the top 100, most notably world. no. 1 Henrik von Eckermann and his super mount King Edward. And yet they’ve dominated the world stage since 2020, taking home team gold at Tokyo 2020 and Herning 2022, as well as individual gold at the 2023 World Cup Final. They are unquestionably the “golden” team of the moment.
The Netherlands is also comparably low on top 100 talent with just three riders on the list. But boast four championship medals since 2020. They captured team silver medals at the 2021 Nations Cup Final and 2022 Herning World Championships, plus individual silver at the 2023 World Cup and individual bronze in Herning.
By comparison, the countries with the most riders in the top 100 have comparatively few medals.
France has just two: team silver and team bronze at the Nations Cup Final in 2022 and 2021, respectively. USA is in the same boat with a team silver at the Tokyo Games and individual bronze at the 2023 World Cup Final. Ireland has a single individual bronze, earned at the 2022 World Cup Final.
And Germany has none.
Let that sink in. The country with the most Olympic medals in show jumping history and by a long shot—14 team medals and 10 individual medals—hasn’t produced a single championship medal at the Olympics, World Championship, Nations Cup or World Cup Final since 2020.
Here’s another shocking group on the losing end of both the world ranking and championship competition: female riders, in general.
Only 14 of the world top 100 are female. In the top 50, that number drops to four—a mere 8%. And in the top 10, to zero.
Broken down by nation, the countries with the most riders in the top 100, save one, have the fewest female riders among them. Germany, France, Ireland, and Belgium make up nearly half the riders in the top 100, 44 total, but have only four female riders between them on that list and none in the top 50: Penelope Leprevost (FRA), no. 56; Jana Wargers (GER), no. 58; and Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann (GER) no. 91.
North America is the notable exception to the rule. Six of USA’s top 100 riders are female—Laura Kraut, no. 17; Lillie Keenan, no. 30; Natalie Dean, no. 70; Hunter Holloway, no. 76; Cathleen Discoll, no. 83; and Mimi Gochman, no. 99.
And Canada, a country with only two riders in the top 100, has only female riders on the list in Tiffany Foster (no. 35) and Erynn Ballard (no. 67).
So despite making up just 14% of the world top 100 and an even lower percentage of the recent national teams, female riders have landed on 67% of global championship podiums since 2020. Notably, Malin Baryard-Johnsson (no. 44) contributed to both of Sweden’s team victories. USA’s Laura Kraut (no. 17) and Jessica Springsteen (no. 187) helped USA to medal in Tokyo, and teammate Hunter Holloway (no. 76) was the only female on the podium at the 2023 World Cup Final.
All of which is to say that the stats don’t lie. But they can be misleading.
