August 20, 2026 
Every team rider dreams of winning a championship. But winning one on home soil? That’s the stuff of legend and the German crowds are not shy about doing their part to ensure home field advantage. Packed stands. An eruption of the exuberant cheering and clapping as each German team member rides into the ring and then…the collective breath holding of an entire stadium as they navigate the course.
“The crowd here is electric,” said Canadian team rider Amy Millar. “I love it when the Germans go clean and everyone goes nuts.”
And the German team responded in kind.
Four zeroes on the scoreboard. A perfect team performance. Three riders into the individual top 10. The German’s extended their lead in the second competition for the team medal at the 2026 FEI World Championships, keeping to a team total of 3.48 points.
But a strong gust could have shifted the winds of fate.
Marcus Enhing and Coolio 42 were deep to the last and scrambled over it. Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames Singclair gave a hard rub to the vertical after the triple. Daniel Deusser and Otello de Guldenboom “tapped their way around the course,” described commentator Lauren Hough, but managed to keep all the rails in the cups. And then Richard Vogel and United Touch S. Last in the ring. The team score already set. Riding for redemption after Thursday’s disappointing rail and delivering a foot perfect round save a light rub into the triple.
“I think on one jump we were a little bit lucky,” said Hinners, who moves in second on the individual leaderboard behind Great Britain’s Scott Brash, “the yellow DHA jump. But then he focused again and jumped clear ’til the end.”
The pressure of that achievement is not lost on chef d’equipe Otto Becker—and it’ll only grow for Friday’s Final.
“The tension is huge here, of course, and we knew that in advance,” said Becker. “A World Championship is something special anyway, only every four years and then in Aachen in our own country—you usually only experience this once in an equestrian life or even in a national trainer’s life. And accordingly, the riders were motivated to be able to ride here, to qualify, to be part of it.
“And when you’re here now and off you go, then you’re happy about every clear round.”
But in the unforgiving sport of show jumping everything can change with the next round.
Less than two faults separate the top two. USA held their nerve and their score, delivering three clean rounds from Laura Kraut, Lillie Keenan and McLain Ward to move into second on 4.85 penalty points. Belgium dropped to third with an expensive rail from Thibeau Spits and Impress-K van ‘t Kattenheye Z. Their team score of 7.69 gives the Germans a rail in hand and ties them with Italy.
Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark also delivered three clear rounds apiece to add nothing to their team scores. For Denmark, it’s a World Championships first, highlighted by Caroline Rehoff Pdersen and Poloni’s double clear.
Ireland squeaked into the Final with clears from Cian O’Connor and Shane Sweetnam.
The top 10 teams advancing to the team medal deciding round are Germany, USA, Belgium, Italy, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and Ireland. It’s Germany’s to lose—and they’re showing no signs of weakness.
