Marten Luiten Leads the U25 Singles Standings at the European Championships in Plisjaszfalu; Michella Skovsager Dominates the U21 Division

In the U21 division, Denmark’s Michella Skovsager and Zimillione—whom she took over from Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour after winning the Intermédiaire I class—delivered the day’s best performance with 72.941 percent. In second place was Britain’s Mette Dahl, riding her wonderful Daytona Platinum, with 72.118 percent, followed by the Netherlands’ Esmee Broers on Montreux, who set a new personal best with 71.147 percent.

The winning German team won’t be up until tomorrow. The first pair representing Germany are Nele Klaus and Bonfire, who are scheduled to enter the arena at 8:40 a.m. Immediately after that, it’s the turn of Julie Sofie Schmitz-Heinen and Attractive, the two winners of the team competition, who were three-time European junior champions just last year.

U21 defending champion Lana-Pinou Baumgürtel and her “new” championship mare Escalla (when she won in 2025, she rode Emma, a half-sister also sired by Escolar) will make their big entrance at 9:54 a.m. At 10:48 a.m., Marie Sohler and Askehavens Beau Sancy will open the penultimate group in the Young Riders individual competition.

U25 – Luiten in the Lead

In the U25 division, Marten Luiten of the Netherlands and his highly supple horse, Johnny—who eagerly performed piaffes and passages—impressed the judges, who placed him at the top with a score of 72.769 percent. Under Katharina Wüst, however, the pair was placed third. It’s possible that the five-star judge was bothered by the gelding’s consistently tight head-and-neck position and largely upright posture. However, her score was also a solid 72 percent.

A British pair is currently in second place in this age group as well: Annabella Pidgley and Charlotte Dujardin’s 2021 Olympic bronze medalist, Gio. The pair scored 70.180 percent.

After a truly wonderful test, Switzerland’s Milena Sophia Sulzer and her Westphalian mare Roksanda set a new personal best. Their previous best score had been 69.573 percent. Among other things, the pair executed wonderful traversals and a piaffe-passage sequence that was both quite expressive and technically correct. In the end, they scored 70.103 percent.

Incidentally, the two of them weren’t the only riders from the Alpine region to impress. The Austrian Valentina Friedl also delivered a fantastic performance on her gelding Korefan. They completed a flawless test with a textbook-perfect collected walk and excellent contact, which was scored at 67.513 percent. That score could have been a bit higher. In the end, they finished in seventh place.

Qence L with big eyes

The only German pair that had to compete in the arena today were Katharina Schuster and Qence L. After their fantastic personal best—which played a major role in the German team’s gold medal win —Qence L seemed a bit distracted at the start of today’s routine. Tension set in, leading to unnecessary mistakes, so that the pair finished with 64.487 percent—well below their potential.

Her teammates will compete tomorrow at 2:42 p.m. (Rose Oatley and Alive and Kicking, the second horse trained by Charlotte Dujardin), 3:09 p.m. (Lucie-Anouk Baumgürtel), and 4:50 p.m.

You can find all the results from Pilisjaszfalu here.