November 28, 2025 
If there was a resounding theme of the 2025 European Championships this summer, it was best summed up by commentator and former Irish Olympic show jumper, Jessica Kürten.
“This has been the Championship of the youth, and the chefs d’equipe who have dared to let the youth come on their teams,” Kürten said. In most cases, those chefs d’equipes that dared, succeeded.
A full 60% of the top 10 individual finishers were age 30 or younger. It’s a statistic that’s reflected in the Longines Rankings, where 30% of the top 10 riders are also in that demographic.
The last two years have seen a number of breakout stars making their championship debuts at venues such as FEI Jumping World Cup™ Finals and the Paris Olympic Games, with more wunderkinds likely to emerge in the forthcoming FEI World Championships in Aachen next summer.
With no dearth of youthful talent in showjumping these days, the future of the sport is looking brighter than ever. Here are our A to Z picks for the top 30, 30-and-under riders from around the globe this year.
1. Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqui
Age: 22
Competing For: UAE
Grand Prix Wins: 7
Top Horse: Enjoy De La Mure
The 2024 season was the year of Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqui and Enjoy De La Mure, the 11-year-old Selle Français stallion with whom he made his Olympic debut in Paris in 2024, finishing 19th overall. The pair also earned a 1.55m Grand Prix win in Montefalco, Italy and a Nations Cup win in Sharjah, UAE, the same season. They currently maintain a 50% clear rate at 1.55m, finishing in the top 10 56% of the time at that height (Jumpr). In 2025, they finished second on the podium in the prestigious Al Shira’aa King George V Gold Cup Grand Prix at Hickstead—fitting, since Al Marzooqui, himself, is a rider for of Al Shira’aa Stables.
2. Harry Charles
Age: 26
Competing For: GBR
Grand Prix Wins: 13
Top Horses: Sherlock, Casquo Blue
Harry Charles was already a seasoned Olympian and had barely passed his 25th birthday when he and Romeo 88 earned a team gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024—with a broken arm, no less. Charles, who led the U25 standings for two years, previously won the FEI Jumping World Cup™ qualifier in La Coruña in 2023 and the LGCT Grand Prix of London in 2024 with currently top mount, Sherlock. In 2022, Charles finished 4th at the FEI World Cup Finals in Leipzig.
3. Emilie Conter
Age: 25
Competing For: Belgium
Grand Prix Wins: 7
Top Horse: Portobella van de Fruitkorf
The 2025 season has been a momentous one for Emilie Conter, who not only cracked the top 100, but moved into second place in the U25 rankings, and earned her first 1.60m 5* Grand Prix win this March in Wellington aboard her top mount, the 10-year-old Belgian mare, Portobella van de Fruitkorf. According to Jumpr, Conter may be poised to crack the €1 million career-earnings mark by end of year, and currently finishes in the top 10 in 27 1.60m+ rounds with “Bella” 52% of the time.
4. Daniel Coyle
Age: 30
Competing For: Ireland
Grand Prix Wins: 33
Top Horses: Farrel, Legacy, Incredible
Since joining Lothlorien Farms in 2016, Daniel Coyle has collected more than 30 Grand Prix titles and €5.5 million in prize money across North America at venues including Wellington, FL; Thermal, CA; and Langley, BC—and finally, this summer, the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Cup Spruce Meadows. His streak has extended across the pond with 5* 1.60m Grand Prix wins in Rotterdam, London, Leipzig, and Amsterdam—not to mention his 2024 Olympic appearance in Paris. At press time, Coyle was ranked at no. 9 in the world.
5. Natalie Dean
Age: 26
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 5
Top Horses: Crescendo Mb Z, Acota M, Con Calma
As a junior, Natalie Dean competed in three FEI North American Youth Championships, winning team bronze in 2017, team silver in 2018, and team silver and individual bronze in 2019. As a regular competitor on the GCL circuit since 2023, Dean helped the Cannes Stars powered by Iron Dames to the 2024 Championship and to a 2nd place finish in 2025. She has also been a regular for U.S. senior Nations Cup teams, earning second place at the 2021 Spruce Meadows BMO Nations Cup CSIO5*, and a win in last winter’s CSIO4* Nations Cup in Wellington.
6. Kim Emmen
Age: 30
Competing For: NED
Grand Prix Wins: 1
Top Horse: Imagine N.O.P.
Kim Emmen burst onto the international stage when she was called-in to pinch hit for the Dutch team at the Paris Olympics in 2024. Jumping multiple clear rounds with the grey gelding Imagine N.O.P., Emmen quickly became known around the world for her cool head under pressure and ability to jump clears when it counts. This year, Emmen and the 12-year-old KWPN gelding Imagine N.O.P. finished 8th individually at the European Championships, 3rd in the LGCT Grand Prix of Monte Carlo, and currently boast a 58% clear rate at 1.60+ (Jumpr Stats).
7. Antoine Ermann
Age: 24
Competing For: FRA
Grand Prix Wins: 4
Top Horse: Floyd Des Pres
As the son of equestrian parents based in Burgundy, France, Antoine Ermann graduated from ponies into the Young Rider European division, winning the French Junior Championship in 2019. As a rider for the Sadran family’s Ecurie Chev’el, Ermann and the 10-year-old Selle Français stallion, Floyd Des Pres, recently cracked the Longines Ranking top 100. Jumping their first 5* Grand Prix in January, the pair finished 16th individually at the 2025 European Championships and recently took third in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier in Lyon.
8. Mimi Gochman
Age: 21
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 6
Top Horses: Cosmos Bh, Inclen Bh
Regularly situated in the top-20 on the FEI U25 rankings, Mimi Gochman followed her mom Becky Gochman into the sport, winning team and individual gold at the Youth Equestrian Games in 2022. One year later, Gochman took 3rd place in the 1.55m 5* MLSJ Toronto Grand Prix with Cosmos Bh, won a qualifier in Spruce Meadows on Celina Bh, jumped on her first senior Nations Cup Team in Wellington, and won the Longines FEI Rising Star award. In 2024, she and Cosmos Bh notched their first 1.55m 4* Grand Prix win in Upperville and, this November, Gochman and Inclen Bh took 3rd in the FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier in Toronto.
9. Carlos Hank Guerreiro
Age: 25
Competing For: MEX
Grand Prix Wins: 4
Top Horse: H5 Porthos Maestro Wh Z
Carlos Hank Guerreiro is a regular fixture in the top 10 of the FEI U25 Rankings and helped Mexico to a team bronze at the 2018 Young Riders. He made his Olympic debut at the Paris 2024 Games with the 11-year-old Zangersheide gelding, H5 Porthos Maestro Wh Z. In 2025, he went on to win his first 4* 1.60m Grand Prix in Wellington in March with “Porthos”, and in June, finished 2nd individually in the Second GCL competition in Paris with H5 Nostalgie.
10. Sophie Hinners
Age: 27
Competing For: GER
Grand Prix Wins: 13
Top Horses: Iron Dames My Prins, Iron Dames Singclair, Iron Dames Combella
Having finished on the podium at the U25 Springpokal Final in Aachen in 2021, Sophie Hinners hasn’t slowed down. A key member of the Cannes Stars, she helped the squad to the GCL Championship title in its debut season in 2024, and won her first 5* 1.60m Grand Prix in the FEI World Cup qualifier in Verona the same year. Hinners currently finishes in the top 10 at 1.60m+ 52% of the time or more aboard all three of her top mounts (Jumpr Stats). This season, she finished 5th at FEI Jumping World Cup Finals, and earned team bronze and a 6th place finish individually at the Longines FEI Jumping European Championships.
11. Seamus Hughes Kennedy
Age: 23
Competing For: IRL
Grand Prix Wins: 11
Top Horse: ESI Rocky
Bred by his uncle, Andrew Hughes, Hughes Kennedy’s 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, ESI Rocky, has brought him from an individual gold medal at the 2023 Young Rider Europeans at the tender age of 21 to a 5th place individual finish at the Senior FEI European Championships this summer. The pair burst onto the scene this past spring when they jumped 0/0 for the winning Irish squad at CSIO5* 1.60m Barrière Nations Cup in La Baule, after finishing 4th in their first-ever 5* Grand Prix in Rome one week earlier. According to Jumpr Stats, Hughes Kennedy and “Rocky” jump clear at 63% in 11 rounds at 1.60+, finishing in the top 10 82% of the time.
12. Lillie Keenan
Age: 29
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 8
Top Horses: Argan De Beliard, Kick On, Fasther
Lillie Keenan made her name stateside as one of the winningest equitation riders of all time. She needed time to grow in the Grand Prix ring, and the right mentor in McLain Ward. Beginning in 2022, Keenan came out swinging and has since notched at least one 5* win a year beginning in Monterrey Mexico (2022), Spruce Meadows and MLSJ Ottawa (2023), and MLSJ Toronto (2024), earning over €3.6 million in prize money. In 11 starts this year with her top team mount, Argan De Beliard, Keenan jumps clear at 1.60m+ at a 55% clip. She is ranked no. 25 in the world.
13. Nina Mallevaey
Age: 25
Competing For: FRA
Grand Prix Wins: 13
Top Horses: Dynastie De Beaufour, My Clementine, Nikka VD Bisschop
Climbing the ranks under the tutelage of Julien Epaillard and Eric Lamaze, Mallevaey officially hit her stride in 2025 when she won the Rolex Grand Prix of Brussels. As the season progressed, the rider for Tara and Mark Rein proved she’s no mere flash in the pan, climbing more than 70 placings to no. 17 in the world, with 5* podium finishes in Spruce Meadows, Rotterdam, and Rome. Aboard her top horse, Dynastie, Mallevaey boasts a 59% top 10 finish rate in 32 rounds at 1.60m+ (Jumpr) at press time.
14. Alex Matz
Age: 29
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 1
Top Horse: Ikigai
As the son of Olympic medalist and Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Michael Matz, Alex Matz has grown up with a foot in both the show jumping and racing worlds. In 2024, he and the 12-year-old KWPN stallion Ikigai came into the sport’s purview when they won the 5* FEI World Cup qualifier in Toronto after taking second in the 5* Hampton Classic Grand Prix that summer. Matz made his senior championship debut at Longines League of Nations Finals last October, and was selected to jump for Team USA in the prestigious Nations Cup of Ireland this August. Two months later, he and Ikigai took 2nd in the 5* Grand Prix of the City of Barcelona.
15. Jessica Mendoza
Age: 29
Competing For: GBR
Grand Prix Wins: 7
Top Horses: In the Air, Summerhouse
Currently ranked at no. 40 in the world, Jessica Mendoza struck out on her own in America when she was just 24 years old. Even then, she was a championship veteran, having earned back-to-back silver medals with the British team at FEI Nations Cup Finals in 2015 and 2016 with Spirit T. This year, Mendoza helped the British team to a 2nd place finish in the Agria Nations Cup of Great Britain with Summerhouse. With her top horse and partner of nearly two years—the 12-year-old KWPN mare In the Air—she won the 5* Longines Hampton Classic Grand Prix in August and currently posts a 50% clear rate in 20 rounds at 1.60+ (Jumpr).
16. Mégane Moissonnier
Age: 28
Competing For: FRA
Grand Prix Wins: 11
Top Horse: Crooner Tame, Qoup De Coeur De Muze
Born into a horse-breeding family in France, Moissonnier grew up near Lyon and competed at three Youth European Championships, going on to ride for her country on Senior Nations Cup teams at St. Gallen, Dublin, and La Baule. In May, Moissonnier—a rider for Laurent Guillet’s Haras de la Côte—and the 13-year-old Selle Français stallion Crooner Tame won a 4* 1.55m Grand Prix in Bourg en Bresse. The French rider has finished on six podiums this year at 1.50m and higher, earning more than €1.2 in career prize money, according to Jumpr Stats.
17. Ioli Mytilineou
Age: 28
Competing For: GRE
Grand Prix Wins: 2
Top Horse: La Perla Vd Heffinck, L’Artiste de Toxandra
Mytilineou has been cutting her teeth on the GCL for the last three seasons. This year, however, has been the biggest of her career thanks to two, top-5 1.60m finishes at CHIO Aachen, and a win in the 5* LGCT Grand Prix of Madrid with the 14-year-old Belgian gelding L’Artiste de Toxandra. L’Artiste was also her pick for her 2024 Paris Olympics debut, following in the footsteps of her mother, Hannah Mytilineou, who competed in the Athens Games in 2004. Mytilineou has earned more than €1.2 million in prize money and has finished on 18 podiums at 1.50m and higher (Jumpr stats).
18. Michael Pender
Age: 26
Competing For: IRL
Grand Prix Wins: 29
Top Horse: HHS Los Angeles, HHS Cyprus
As the longtime rider for Ireland’s Hughes Horse Stud, Pender has taken home multiple gold medals at the World Breeding Championships for Young Horses in Lanaken, Belgium and was named the 2016 Irish Field Junior Show Jumper of the Year. In 2019, he became the youngest-ever winner of the Hickstead Derby, and this season, was part of the silver medal-winning Irish team at Longines League of Nations Finals in Barcelona with the 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare HHS Los Angeles. In February, Pender and Los Angeles also won a 5* 1.60m Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.
19. Jeanne Sadran
Age: 24
Competing For: FRA
Grand Prix Wins: 4
Top Horse: Dexter De Kerglenn
Currently ranked in the top-three in the U25 Rankings, Jeanne Sadran officially burst into the international spotlight in June of 2024, when she and the 12-year-old Selle Français stallion Dexter De Kerglenn won the 5* LGCT Grand Prix of Paris. This summer, the pair jumped 0/0 for the Senior French team at the Longines League of Nations Rotterdam, and they were selected for the French squad at the 2025 European Championships one month later. Sadran, too, has crossed the million-dollar mark in career earnings, with more than €1.3 million in prize money.
20. Spencer Smith
Age: 28
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 11
Top Horses: Keeneland, HHS Seattle
The son of Ashland Farm owners Ken and Emily Smith, Spencer Smith had a successful junior career, winning the 2014 Pessoa/U.S. Hunter Seat Medal Finals. He’s spent the last six seasons competing as part of the GCL’s New York Empire team, earning well over €1.9 in career total prize money. In 2024, Smith jumped 0/0 for Team USA in the Nations’ Cup of Ireland with the 12-year-old Zangersheide gelding Keeneland—a feat the pair repeated at CSIO5* Falsterbo this July. In 2025, Smith finished on the podium in 4* Grand Prix in WEF with HHS Seattle and took second in the FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier in Traverse City in September with Keeneland.
21. Thibeau Spits
Age: 24
Competing For: BEL
Grand Prix Wins: 12
Top Horse: Impress-K Van’t Kattenheye Z
This summer, after a series of standout senior Nations Cups appearances, Thibeau Spits made his first championship appearance count, helping the Belgian team to the top of the podium at the 2025 European Championships aboard the flashy 10-year-old stallion, Impress-K Van’t Kattenheye Z. Paired together since 2021, the longtime partners took home their first 2* 1.45m Grand Prix in Gent in 2024, followed by the LGCT Grand Prix of Riesenbeck just a few months later. This year, they jumped clear in 25 rounds at 1.60m+ at 52%, finishing in the top 10 a standout 61% of the time.
22. Václav Stanek
Age: 30
Competing For: CZE
Grand Prix Wins: 3
Top Horse: Quintin
A groom-turned-rider for Ariel Grange’s Lothlorien farm, Stanek made his 5* Grand Prix debut and earned his first 5* win during the 1.60m Duncan Ross Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows in 2024 aboard Quintin—also becoming the first rider from the Czech Republic to win a 5* title anywhere in the world. One year later, Stanek and the 15-year-old Dutch gelding repeated the feat, this time in the RBC Grand Prix of Canada. “I believe that a complete rider and horseman must be able to do it all, from the young horses to the bigger sport,” Stanek has said.
©FEI/Kim C Lundin
23. Sanne Thijssen
Age: 27
Competing For: NED
Grand Prix Wins: 33
Top Horse: Con Quidam Rb, Cupcake Z
Few partnerships in show jumping have the kind of long-term staying power as Sanne Thijssen and the 19(!)-year-old Holsteiner stallion, Con Quidam Rb. Back in 2022, the pair won a silver medal with the Dutch team at the 2022 World Championship in Herning, and they were part of the winning squad in 2021 at the FEI Nations Cup Final. They are equally competitive as individuals, winning a whopping eight, 1.60m Grands Prix, including the 5* LGCT Grands Prix of Madrid (2022) and Valkenswaard (2023), and earning €1.4 million in prize money. In October, Thijssen also took home her first CSI5*-W FEI World Cup™ qualifier in Oslo aboard Cupcake Z.
24. Gilles Thomas
Age: 27
Competing For: BEL
Grand Prix Wins: 21
Top Horses: Ermitage Kalone, Qalista DN, Luna van het Dennehof
With nearly as many total Grand Prix wins as he has years on earth, Gilles Thomas is already an Olympian, a European team gold and individual bronze medalist, a two-time Belgian champion aboard the 11-year-old Selle Français stallion Ermitage Kalone. This season, Thomas took home three, 5* LGCT Grands Prix in New York, Paris, and Shanghai, securing both the GCL Championship for Valkenswaard United as well as the individual 2025 LGCT Championship. All that has led to more than €4.9 million in total prize money (Jumpr Stats) and a ranking position at no. 5 in the world.
25. Jos Verlooy
Age: 29
Competing For: BEL
Grand Prix Wins: 13
Top Horse: Fts Killossery Konfusion
In less than 30 years, Jos Verlooy has already jumped more championships than many top riders twice his age. The Belgian rider competed in his first FEI World Equestrian Games at the tender age of 19 with Domino, and his first FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final one year later, finishing 5th. This year, Verlooy and the 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Fts Killossery Konfusion took home two, 1.55m 4* Grands Prix wins in Thermal, California. According to Jumpr, Verlooy has finished on more than 30 podiums at 1.60m+, earning more than €4 million in prize money.
26. Richard Vogel
Age: 28
Competing For: GER
Grand Prix Wins: 40
Top Horses: United Touch S, Claudio, Levi Noesar, Gangster Montdesir
From the minute they burst onto the scene, the reigning European Champions Richard Vogel and United Touch S have been the talk of the town, winning a total of five, 1.60m+ 5* Grands Prix together, and making Vogel a regular fixture in the top-five of the Longines Rankings. This year, the German Olympian has won 1.60m Grands Prix in Wellington, Hong Kong, and Lyon, France; and jumped 0/0 with United Touch S to help win the Nations Cup of Switzerland for Germany. Recently, Vogel won the 5* 1.60m Grand Prix in Lyon with Gangster Montdesir, and currently finishes in the top 10 in 52 rounds at 1.60m+ 60% of the time.
27. Alessandra Volpi
Age: 25
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 3
Top Horses: Gipsy Love, Glamour Girl, Qannando B & V
After a successful junior career that included a team silver medal at the FEI North American Youth Championships in 2019—while still a student at Stanford University—Alessandra Volpi graduated to Senior Nations Cup competition in 2023, and recently jumped for Team USA in this year’s Longines League of Nations Finals in Barcelona. Currently ranked second on the USEF U25 Rider Rankings, Volpi has qualified and competed in two, FEI Jumping World Cup™ Finals, finishing 3rd in this year’s Second Final Competition with Gipsy Love. This fall, Volpi and Qannando B & V won the 3* 1.55m Grand Prix in Lichtenvoorde.
28. Tom Wachman
Age: 20
Competing For: IRL
Grand Prix Wins: 2
Top Horse: Tabasco De Toxandria Z
A regular fixture in the top 10 of the FEI U25 rankings, Tom Wachman—a protégée of Cian O’Connor—jumped on his first 5* Senior Nation’s Cup team in Baule in 2023 when he was just 18 years old. One year later, Wachman helped the Irish to European team gold at the Young Riders level, and he hasn’t slowed down since. In March, he finished 3rd in the 1.60m 4* Grand Prix in Wellington with Do It Easy; five months later, Wachman jumped double-clear for podium-finishing Irish squad in the Nations Cup of Ireland. According to Jumpr Stats, the 2025 FEI Rising Star Award-winner and the 10-year-old Zangersheide stallion Tabasco de Toxandria Z finish in the top 10 62% of the time in 21 rounds at 1.60m+.
29. Jack Whitaker
Age: 24
Competing For: GBR
Grand Prix Wins: 8
Top Horse: Valmy De La Lande
Part of the famous Whitaker show jumping dynasty, Jack (son of Michael, nephew of John) earned team silver at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and individual silver and team bronze at the 2021 Young Rider Europeans. One year later, Whitaker finished 5th at FEI Jumping World Cup Finals in Leipzig with the 16-year-old Selle Français stallion, Valmy De La Lande. As the U25 rider for the GCL Madrid in Motion team, Whitaker was in the top 15 of the FEI U25 rankings at press time. In March, he won a 1.50m 3* Grand Prix in Arezzo, Italy with Valmy De La Lande; Whitaker and Jack Jl were also part of the winning British squad in the Longines League of Nations Gassin – St. Tropez in September.
30. Skylar Wireman
Age: 21
Competing For: USA
Grand Prix Wins: 1
Top Horse: Barclino B, Tornado
In addition to a successful junior career that included multiple West Coast equitation titles and double gold medals at this year’s FEI North American Youth Championships in the Young Riders division, Wireman burst on to the scene with her victory in the 4* FEI World Cup™ Qualifier in Fort Worth, TX in 2024; she made her FEI Jumping World Cup™ Finals debut that same year in Riyadh with Tornado. A regular on the Major League Show Jumping (MLSJ) circuit, Wireman topped the USEF FEI U25 Rankings at press time. This November, she and the 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding, Barclino B, finished 2nd in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ qualifier in Toronto.
Those are your top 30, 30 & Under show jumpers. Who’d we miss?
