December 30, 2025 
Multiple national titles, an Olympic debut, and two European Championship podium finishes. Four, 1.60m 5* Grand Prix wins and more than €5.6 million in career prize money—all by the tender age of 27 (Jumpr Stats).
Really, is there anything Gilles Thomas can’t do?
The answer to that question is an even more resounding “no” after Tuesday’s Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Qualifier of Mechelen. Riding the 9-year-old Belgian mare Qalista DN, Thomas managed to drop a rail in the jump-off and still win the day.
That’s right. No one else in the second round field managed a clear, meaning Thomas’s time of 41.30 seconds was good enough to give Belgium the hometown win in a jump-off list that included the likes of Willem Greve (NED) and Grandorado TN N.O.P., and the ever-speedy Daniel Deusser (GER) and Otello de Guldenboom—both of whom have already won a World Cup™ Qualifier this season.
Second-last to go in the jump-off, Greve gambled on a careful clear, but pulled the front rail of the oxer in the combination. Deusser was less cautious, but suffered the same fate at Greve in the turnback to 4a, dropping the pole.
“I wasn’t really watching [the rest of the class go] because I had no doubt already, 99% of the time, that [Daniel Deusser] will just finish it off,” Thomas said. “So, I was still very disappointed thinking that last year, I was second, and this year maybe again.
“But I turned around, and suddenly, there were 20 people around me shouting, ‘Congratulations!’”
Despite a relatively straightforward start to Course Designer Bart Vonck’s (BEL) first-round, 13-obstacle track, rails fell throughout the afternoon in abundance. A tight time allowed, three verticals set at 1.61m, and a complex combination consisting of a vertical to a wide oxer, followed by one-stride to a 1.60m vertical on exit all took their toll on the 39-rider startlist.
In the end, only five combinations were clear and in the time; among them: Thomas, Greve, Deusser, and Germany’s Patrick Stühlmeyer with the striking 14-year-old stallion, Baloutaire PS. The partners of just five months were jumping their first 1.60m class and first FEI World Cup™ qualifier together, and finished third on a time of 44.05 seconds.
Also making their World Cup Qualifier debut was Sweden’s Marcus Westergren aboard the 11-year-old Zangersheide stallion, Airco de L Esprit Z. As pathfinder in the second round, Westergren pulled a rail, but his sprightly stallion’s time of 42.34 seconds was good enough for second. Delighted by Airco’s performance and a career-high result, Westergren, 49, quickly became a crowd favorite.
“It’s unbelievable, I didn’t expect this at all!” he said. “I know the horse is fantastic and that he’d do anything for me—he’s just so nice!”
With this win, Qalista DN officially closes out 2025 as the top 9-year-old show jumping horse of the year, having won two, 5* 1.60m Grands Prix at LGCT New York City and now, Mechelen. “She’s unbelievable. It’s the first World Cup that she’s jumped, and she wins it,” Thomas reflected.
“Wherever we go this year, it’s always the first time for her—all new for her—but she takes it all always so easily.”
After seven of the 13 legs that make up the 2025/2026 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Western European League, Willem Greve leads the standings on 52 points ahead of Max Kühner (AUT) in second on 45 points, and Daniel Deusser with 38 points in third.
Next month, the series moves on to Basel, Switzerland for its eighth leg on January 11, 2026.
