China Wins Its First Team Dressage Gold Medal at the 2026 Asian Games

Nine teams and 45 pairs competed at the 2026 Asian Games in Tokyo. In the end, it was a clear victory for the visiting team from China, featuring Jiayi Yu on Jackpoint, Jiayi Rao riding Geniaal, Zhanzhao Gu on Shakespeare, and Yue Wu on Iggy Pop Bek. With a score of 208.148 percent, the team finished nearly three percentage points ahead of the Republic of Korea.

China had some support from Europe. Jiayi Yu trains in the arena with Denmark’s First Lady, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, and Zhanzhao Gu is coached by Lars Ligus.

Yu and Jackpoint: Laudrup-Dufour’s Protégés Set a

Personal

Best

Jiayi Yu and Jackpoint scored 70.265 percent, China’s highest score—a new personal best and, at the same time, the second-highest score of the day. Coach Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, the perennial silver medalist, later had her student place the gold medal around her neck and joked that here was a sight no one would have ever thought to see: her wearing a gold medal. Which isn’t entirely true—after all, she helped Denmark win a historic team gold medal at the 2022 World Championships. But that’s another story.

China’s second-best pair, Jiayi Rao—better known as Sarah Rao—and Geniaal, finished fourth on the day with a score of 69.618 percent. The pair had won both the individual and freestyle titles at last year’s FEI Asian Championships in Pattaya (THA) and were less than one percentage point behind the day’s top performer, Dongheon Nam of South Korea, in Tokyo.

Zhanzhao Gu and Shakespeare also placed among the top ten with a score of 68.265 percent. Yue Wu and Iggy Pop Bek finished twelfth with a score of 67.735 percent—making their result China’s lowest-scoring pair.

Silver for Korea – a complete Asian Games debut

The Republic of Korea secured the silver medal with a score of 205.265 percent. It was the Asian Games debut for every member of the Korean team—and what a debut it was! Riding his 10-year-old gelding Leonidas, Dongheon Nam set a new personal best with a score of 70.559 percent—the highest score of the day. Nam, who had already won individual gold at the 2019 FEI Asian Championships in Pattaya, leads the individual standings after this opening round.

Myeongseok Lee and Rosetti also set a new personal best with a score of 67.971 percent and finished in tenth place. Their compatriot Hyunwoo Do, riding Nina Ricci MP, scored 66.735 percent and placed 17th. Here, too, the influence from Europe is evident. The three trained with Helen Langehanenberg over the winter. The fourth member of the group, Shiwoo Kim riding Sir Hubert NRW, can count on the expertise of the horse’s trainers, Borja Carrascosa and Alexander Brenninkmeijer.

The latter was the one who dared to take advantage of the new rule for the Asian Games. For the first time, the Games are being held in a mixed format, in which pairs are allowed to compete in both the short program and the free skate. South Korea’s Shiwoo Kim and Sir Hubert NRW were the only pair to compete in a Grand Prix. They scored 62.935 percent, which was the team’s discard score.

Japan Wins Bronze on Home Soil

Host nation Japan secured the bronze medal with a score of 204.117 percent, just over one percentage point behind Korea. Shingo Hayashi and King Leatherdale O posted the team’s highest score of 69.294 percent. Hayashi was also the only Japanese rider on the team who had previously competed in the Asian Games. His three teammates were all making their debuts. Among them were Ryuma Hieda and Vagabund, who scored 67.529 percent. Akiko Yonemoto and Bombay Saphire provided the team’s lowest score with 66.647 percent. Rounding out the team was Fumiyasu Nishiwaki, who presented a familiar face in the 14-year-old Oldenburg gelding Fürst William—a former German National Champion who had had various riders and owners and now earned 67.294 percent for Japan.

Japan had already won team gold on home soil in 1994 and in Jakarta in 2018.

A look at the individual standings

, India—the 2022 Asian Games dressage team champion—narrowly missed the podium this time and finished fourth. There had been some concern leading up to the event because India’s strongest rider, Anush Agarwalla, had been named only as a reserve.

Among the individual riders, Aleksandra Maksakova (PLE) achieved the highest score. Maksakova, who is trained by Anne van Olst, scored 69.882 percent with So Secret—the third-highest score of the day.

Hsiu-hua Yeh of Chinese Taipei is in seventh place in the individual standings after setting a new personal best of 68.383 percent with Lorava.

The second singles qualifying round will take place on Saturday, followed by the singles final on Sunday.

You can find all the results here.