Belgium Takes Gold at the European Championships

Thibeau Spits is shaking. He’s standing with his teammates, winners of the team gold medal at the European Championships. He’s holding a microphone and he’s supposed to be answering a question from the FEI commentator.

Two others have gone before him, as they did in the competition—Nicola Philappaerts and Pieter Devos. All smiles, their voices boom across Casas Novas, the grand facility in Spain where this year’s Championships are held.

Team Belgium started the day in third, behind both Great Britain and Germany. They ended the day with the gold, and a shaking 24-year-old Spits struggling to speak.

It was doubtful that it was ever going to be anything but a fight between the top three teams, each more than four faults ahead of the other nations. Seems like not much? At this level of competition, four faults is a vast chasm between those at the top and those who won’t make it, and eight faults—well, you can just forget it.

Look at our individual results after this, the third day of competition. You have to go all the way down to number 14 on the list before you find a 4+ score and the last to qualify (25 riders come back on Sunday) has a score of 6.34. And that is after three rounds of competition!

If you want to understand the scoring further, read here.

Philappaerts started the Belgians off with a clear on that fetching mare, Katanga vh Dingeshof, his longtime partner. Their fast and clear rounds throughout the competition have put them in fifth on the individual standings with a score of 1.72.

Marcus Ehning and Coolio 42 followed with a 4-fault round, a hoped-for drop score. Then came Ben Maher of Great Britain who also jumped clear and placed himself eighth in the individual standings, with Dallas Vegas Batilly.

The second leg of the competition failed to move the standings. First came Pieter Devos (BEL) with Casual DV Z, who followed their disappointing 8-fault first round with a 4-faulter. Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames My Prins added a third clear round to their score for Germany, putting them into 11th place in the individual standings.

Disaster struck again for Matt Sampson of Great Britain and his mount Medoc de Toxandria. After refusing twice in the triple on Thursday, Medoc had grown spooked by the thing, and stopped again. This time, Sampson was able to cajole Medoc into finishing the course, but ended as the necessary drop score with 14 faults.

The third leg started with Spits and that stallion of his, Impress-K van’t Kattenheye Z, on whom I have an enormous crush. He is tall, dark, handsome and seemingly capable of jumping anything with ease. Spits, however, took his time to be sure of the clear and added a time fault to Belgium’s score.

This was Germany’s chance to pull ahead. All they needed was a clear from Olympic gold medalist Christian Kukuk, a feat he had pulled off with little style (according to him) only the day before. Unfortunately for the team, he and Just Be Gentle took out the back rail of the triple bar, putting another 4 on the scoreboard.

It all came down to the fourth and final round. With Sampson’s double digit score, clear was the only option for Great Britain to maintain the lead. Clear did not happen, as Donald Whitaker and Millfield Colette scored 4 faults, bringing Team Great Britain to a score of 7.96.

Team Belgium, on 5.61, took over the lead, but could they maintain it?

Signs pointed to yes as Mr. Perfect entered the ring—Mr. Perfect being, as you know, that other stallion we all have a crush on, Ermitage Kalone. Could he, with his reputation of being “slightly ponderous” in his way of going, really succeed in navigating the triple combination, where the course designer had placed, after an initial wide oxer, the most delicate and lofty of planked-top verticals? (It was pretty mean. That plank came down all day.)

Knock a rail, and you’re down in bronze-medal territory. Still a podium finish, but you’re looking up at your rivals pumping frothy champagne onto your face.

Well—no one needed to worry. Ermitage and Thomas delivered and Team Belgium took the gold! Up and over the last jump, Thomas galloped away with his hand in the air and the Belgians in the crowd (there were many, decked out in black, yellow, and red) on their feet, cheering lustily!

Things weren’t over, however. We still had the battle for silver. It began with the freak of all freaks, United Touch S and his rider Richard Vogel. They are sitting on a score of 0.01, only not on zero because Daniel Coyle and Legacy decided to show up for one day.

They were clear, keeping Team Germany on 8.19 and keeping Vogel on the tippy-top of the individual standings.

And here comes our last horse-and-rider combination, Scott Brash of the lost reins and his determined little mare Hello Folie. Hello Folie might be someone impressive, but she is only 10 years old and this is her first championship. Can she really stick the landing and go clear a third time?

That answer was a resounding yes. Brash kept his reins and his stirrups and everything this time around. He also put himself and his horse into the second spot in the individual standings.

As far as they go, in third we have Steve Guerdat, who, with Albfuehren’s Iashin Sitte, delivered just an absolutely perfect, beautiful round, followed by Thomas and Philippaerts. In sixth, we have another Swiss, Nadja Peter Steiner with Mila and the young Irishman Seamus Hughes Kennedy in seventh, who has been turning in multiple great performances all summer aboard ESI Rocky. Rounding out the top ten is Maher in eighth, another Swiss, Janika Sprunger and Orelie, riding as an individual, in ninth and Frenchman Kevin Staut and Visconti du Telmen in tenth.

But now we’ve come to the end, and Thibeau Spits is shaking and smiling and trying to answer the commentator’s question. Trying to let his voice, riddled with joy and adrenaline, fill the stands and the arena.

He does it—and hands the mic off to Gilles Thomas, who brings home the interview. It isn’t long before they’re all standing on the podium, feeling the weight of the 2025 European Championship team gold medals around their necks.