With her dressage score, Ann-Catrin Bierlein’s ACSI Daisy Dynamite became the 2026 World Champion in the young eventing horse category.

Ann-Catrin Bierlein and the Westphalian gray mare Daisy Dynamite by Diacontinus already impressed the crowd in the dressage. With a precise, harmonious performance, they secured a strong starting position in second place. Yesterday, they completed a wonderful cross-country round, closing the gap slightly on the pair that had been leading up to that point and were on track for silver heading into today’s final jumping competition.

The Path to the

“

”

Title

Today was the jumping competition. Here, too, time proved to be one of the decisive factors—unless, of course, a rider had already made a jumping error. That, for example, proved to be Lara de Liedekerke-Meier’s undoing with Herakles. The pair were on course for bronze after the cross-country, so they had to enter the course before Bierlein and came out with four penalty points. This knocked them out of medal contention, and they ultimately finished ninth.

Next up were Ann-Catrin Bierlein and Daisy Dynamite. The U25 team world championship runner-up showed nerves of steel, and her mare proved that she not only has quality over jumps but also enough stamina and strength on the final day to jump a clear round. They cleared one obstacle after another, galloped flawlessly across the finish line, and thus concluded the tournament with their dressage score.

Now all they could do was wait and see what the last pair—Dutch rider Patrick Verbakel and his home-bred horse Passoa—would do. This pair had been the surprise of the tournament, and on previous occasions, Passoa had proven to be a reliable jumper. But today they had two knockdowns and 1.2 time penalties. What could have been a title turned into a 16th-place finish.

And so it was official: Ann-Catrin Bierlein and ACSI Daisy Dynamite—bred by her grandfather Rolf Wilcken—are world champions!

A family horse with a short fuse

For Ann-Catrin Bierlein, this success is especially meaningful because ACSI Daisy Dynamite is a true family project. Ann-Catrin told the FN: “Daisy Dynamite was raised by my grandparents themselves. I was there when she was born and have trained her myself from the very beginning. Since last year, she’s made even more great progress. She’s always been very eager to work and cooperative—at the same time sensitive and sometimes a bit short-tempered—but always sweet and a true family horse.” No wonder, then, that the two of them are such a well-coordinated team. “I’m very grateful to my grandfather for having the brilliant idea so early on to breed with Diacontinus. Today, of course, we know there are many good horses.”

One of them is the Hanoverian mare Diacondiva FRH, bred by Johannes Hilmer, with whom Bierlein also competed in Lion d’Angers—twice, in fact. “My goal was to come here with Daisy Dynamite as well. I’m familiar with the competition—it requires a certain type of horse here, one that’s composed and self-assured. I saw early on that she could be a horse for the World Championships, and apparently I had the right instinct.”

You could certainly say that.

Medals for Switzerland and Australia

. The

silver

medal

went to

Switzerland

, to Robin Godel and the French Contendro son Kosmic d’Elbe (breeder: Nicolas Caron), who managed to move up from fifth place despite 0.4 time penalties (31.3). Australian rider Kevin McNab took home the bronze with his Irish horse Monbeg Kobe by HHS Cornet (breeder: Valentine Tourres), one of four pairs that had 31 penalty points after the cross-country. With just 0.4 time penalties, they had the best final jumping round and were thus able to move up to the bronze medal position.

The other German results

Among the 31 pairs that incurred penalty points were Sven Lux and the Trakehner stallion Berlioz by Zauberdeyk, bred by the successful Monika Mittermeyer; he represents a highly successful bloodline and is based at the Marbach State Stud. Berlioz was one of the fastest riders in the cross-country yesterday. Today, he incurred 2.4 time penalties and two knockdowns. As a result, they finished the World Championships in 25th place.

You can find all the results here.