May 19, 2025 
When GCTV presenter Marc Lewis spoke with Greek rider Ioli Mytilineou earlier in the week at LGCT Madrid, he asked at what stop on the tour he’d next see her.
According to Lewis, Mytilineou told him Paris, then jokingly added, “Wait, why won’t I see you at the end of the LGCT Grand Prix on Sunday?”
Lewis, for his part, played along. But with a CSI5* LGCT field that included the likes of World No. 1 Kent Farrington (USA) and Greya, Pieter Devos (BEL) and Casual DV Z, and reigning Olympic Champion Christian Kukuk (GER), you’d forgive him for having some doubts.
Mytilineou, for all her swagger, seemed to have been harboring her own.
“The last time I won a Grand Prix was in 2021, and that was a 3*. I’m not a winner,” the 27-year-old admitted to Lewis in that very post-class GCTV interview she’d joked about before quickly correcting herself. “I haven’t won much.”
All that ended on Sunday, May 18, as the sun dipped low outside the sprawling grass field of the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. There, Mytilineou and the 14-year-old Belgian gelding L’Artiste de Toxandra dashed through the jump-off timers of the LGCT Grand Prix of Madrid on a time of 34 seconds flat, leaving the rest of the field in their wake.
It was Mytilineou’s first 5* victory, and a dominant one at that. She finished nearly two full seconds ahead of the next three riders in the jump-off: Marco Kutscher (GER) in second place with Aventador S (35.98 seconds), Hans-Dieter Dreher (GER) and Elysium in third (36.12 seconds), and Devos, who finished fourth with Casual DV Z (36.40).
The rest of the second-round field had some uncharacteristic hiccups. Farrington and Greya pulled two rails; Ireland’s Cian O’Connor knocked a pole with Bentley de Sury. Kukuk, for his part, suffered an unexpected dismount at the joker fence when Cepano Baloubet made a surprisingly big effort, unseating his rider in the landing.
It’s common knowledge that, in show jumping, you train yourself to stick to your plan and ride your own ride, because you never know what’s going to happen with your competitors. It’s an idea that Mytilineou, young as she is, seems to innately understand, even if she walked into the class as an underdog.
“I think, [when] you don’t believe that you’re something, you might as well give it your all. Do you know what I mean?” she asked Lewis.
“For me, there was no point to just go in there and try to be a nice clear; I’d rather have had the one down and been the fasted one-down. I just, thought, I’ll risk it all and hopefully I’ll be on the podium. I didn’t think I’d be first—so to win is just incredible.”
“Incredible” is an apt word for Mytilineou’s breakout, 2024/2025 season on the international stage. Last summer, she made her Olympic debut as in individual in Paris with L’Artiste de Toxandra, following in the footsteps of her mother, Hannah Roberson-Mytilinaiou, the last rider to represent Greece in show jumping at the 2004 Athens Games.
She’s also making headway in the Global Champions League (GCL). After two years riding for Madrid in Motion, Mytilineou was named to the Monaco Comets powered by Iron Dames (who also power the 2024 GCL Championship-winning Cannes Stars team). On Friday, Mytilineou kicked off her week in Spain with a clear round the Comets riding the 14-year-old Belgian mare La Perla VD Heffinck, helping the team secure a fourth-place finish.
After her second appearance of the season, Mytilineou has yet to drop a rail for the Comets, who also finished third on the podium at the first venue she competed at GCL Doha. After four stops, the Monaco Comets currently sit in fourth place of 17 in the standings, with an eye toward qualifying for the GCL Super Cup in Prague this November.
Whether or not they make the cut remains to be seen, but as of this weekend, Mytilineou has punched her own ticket to the ‘City of a Hundred Spires’ and the LGCT Super Cup. “Prague is an unbelievable venue,” she said. “Now I’m going to plan my season around producing a big result there. I’m so grateful to [Iron Dames Founder Deborah Mayer] for the opportunity to ride here in Madrid.”
According to Jumpr App, Mytilineou jumps clear in 14 career rounds at 1.60m at 71%. Equally impressive? In 11 rounds at 1.55m, that number jumps to 82%.
In other words, with her first 5* victory done and dusted, the numbers indicate that Mytilineou isn’t likely to be a flash in the pan. A fact that, after this weekend, she may very well start believing herself.
