The Netherlands dominated the free skate events at the conclusion of the U21 and U25 European Championships in Pilisjaszfalu

It was a tough battle for the final medals at the European Championships for U21 and U25 dressage riders in Pilisjaszfalu, especially among the U25 competitors.

Lara van Nek Is in a League of Her Own

In the Young Riders division, 21-year-old Lara van Nek and Jatilinda—a daughter of All at Once who, like her sire, was bred by the family—proved to be the standout pair. This was already evident during the team event, even though they were still in second place in the individual standings at that point. But yesterday, Adelinde Cornelissen’s student had already clinched the individual title with a very harmonious round on the elegant, expressive black mare. Today, they went one better and secured the second individual title of their European Championship career with a solid 80.255 percent.

Lara had already competed at the European Championships in the Children’s, Pony, and Junior divisions. But these were her first gold medals, won during her final year in the Young Riders division. Incidentally, Lara is also successfully competing with Jatilinda’s sire and one of her sons.

Breeding

His sire, All at Once, competed alongside the Moroccan Yessin Rahmouni at the Tokyo Olympics, among other events. Now, the 16-year-old son of Ampere is a Grand Prix champion for his breeder’s daughter and has proven himself to be an outstanding sire, as demonstrated not only by Jatilinda in Pilisjaszfalu but also by Rose Oatley’s Alive and Kicking.

Jatilinda has also already proven herself as a broodmare. She herself is a sister to the popular stallion Jameson RS2. She has nine offspring, including the licensed Obsession Taonga, who competed with Lara van Nek as a five- and six-year-old at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses, finishing eleventh and then sixth, respectively. The pair has since advanced to the advanced class and is once again part of the KWPN World Championship squad for Verden this year.

Silver for Denmark, Bronze for England

Lara van Nek and Jatilinda set a personal best with their freestyle routine—as did the other two medalists. Silver went to Denmark’s Michella Skovsager, who had won a team bronze medal at last year’s European Championships with Blue Hors Elliott but has now found her stride with Zimillione, trained by Cathrine Dufour. With a score of 77.845 percent, she celebrated the first silver medal of her career in the individual competition.

Mette Dahl, the daughter of Olympic rider Fiona Bigwood, rode Daytona Platinum—a former Bundeschampionat finalist known at home as “Dino”—to a bronze medal with another personal best of 75.930 percent. Her mother has already posted on social media about how proud she is of her daughter, who had to balance her studies with her horses over the past year—starting at the stable as early as 5:30 a.m., then going to college, and returning to the stable in the evening to let the horses graze, etc. This dedication was rewarded with her first individual medal in her sixth appearance at the European Championships.

Fourth Place for Schmitz-Heinen

Last year’s two three-time European Junior Champions, Julie Sofie Schmitz-Heinen and her AC-DC son Attractive , bred by Stephan Borgmann, missed the medal positions today with a score of 74.790 percent and finished their debut at the Young Riders competition in fourth place. The deciding factor was errors in the sequence changes, both the triple and quadruple changes.

The other two German results: Marie Sohler, the 2024 U18 European champion, struggled today with the right pirouette on her Danish horse Askehavens Beau Sancy and finished in twelfth place with a score of 71.085 percent.

Lana Pinou Baumgürtel and Escalla made some mistakes in their sequence changes. They finished 15th with a score of 69.565 percent.

Marten Luiten completes his set of medals

After winning bronze in the team competition and silver in the U25 Grand Prix, Dutch junior multi-champion Marten Luiten celebrated his first U25 individual title today. For the 24-year-old, who turns 25 in October—and was thus competing in the European Junior Championships for the last time—this was his third European Championship in this age group and his first with the 12-year-old Westphalian Johnny. In his previous competitions, he had ridden the mare Fynona (also bred by Lara van Nek’s mother, Willeke Bos), with whom he won three individual titles in the U21 division as well as silver and bronze at the 2023 U25 European Championships.

Johnny is a tall and very supple son of Johnson who looks more like a five-year-old than a Grand Prix horse. One might have wished for a more supple hind leg; as a result, the dark chestnut remained very high and tightly upright throughout. Back engagement? Hind leg under the center of gravity? Yet he piaffes and passes like a metronome—supple and active. And Marten Luiten is a rider who knows exactly how to score points. The pair delivered a flawless freestyle set to very fitting music, which the judges scored at 81.565 percent.

Rose Oatley had a great trot, but made some mistakes in the canter

With their performance, Marten Luiten and Johnny turned the tables. Yesterday, they had to settle for second place behind Rose Oatley and Alive and Kicking. Today, they knocked the two previous leaders off their perch. But 19-year-old Oatley had also left the door slightly open. Her trot round with her Westphalian mare—also descended from All At Once—still looked like it could win the title. The small black mare, bred by Michael Schulte, trained by Charlotte Dujardin, and competed in World Cup events, was consistently responsive to the driving aids, with good active hind leg action and always responsive to the driving aids.

The pair’s canter sequence is fraught with difficulties, such as the transitions from pirouettes directly into canter half-passes. Going to the right went well, but to the left, the mare tensed up and clearly expressed her displeasure by veering sharply to one side. A mistake in the single changes compounded the issue. Nevertheless, the duo—who have known each other for only about four months—scored 79.255 percent. In the end, that meant the bronze medal—and, together with the two gold medals from the team and individual competitions, a bountiful haul at their first U25 European Championships!

Family Showdown

Right up until the last pair, it still looked as though the final podium at these European Championships would feature two horses trained by Charlotte Dujardin among the medalists: Oatley’s “Alive and Kicking” and Gio, ridden by Annabella Pidgley. With a score of 77.460 percent, the two were in third place after a beautifully choreographed freestyle.

The only person who could still knock Annabella off the podium was her own boyfriend, Andreas Yde Helgstrand. Today, he had left “The Gentleman” in the stable and rode his experienced Everdale son, Inspiration PF, to second place with a confident, flawless round. The judges awarded him 79.640 percent, which also allowed him to overtake Oatley.

Sixth and eleventh place for Baumgürtel and Gagel

The German U25 Grand Prix champion, Lucie-Anouk Baumgürtel, rode her horse First Vienna to a sixth-place finish with a score of 76.130 percent. Errors in the half-passes and a trot sequence that wasn’t quite loose enough prevented her from placing higher.

Pia-Carlotta Gagel and Riccio finished their first European Junior Championships in eleventh place with exactly 73 percent.

You can find all the results from Pilisjaszfalu here.