German youth champion Isabella von Roeder with top 4* debut in Sopot

Isabella von Roeder and the now 15-year-old Bob by Bailamos Biolley have been a team since 2021. The Oldenburg gelding was previously ridden by Sweden’s Judit Engelsson and in Germany by Finland’s Lotte Palmgren. Two years after their first start together, Isabella and Bob were nominated for their first U21 European Championships. Two more followed. They didn’t win any medals here, but they did at the German Championships and in their Preis der Besten appearances, winning gold in a double last year. The couple’s youth ended on January 1, 2026, Isabella’s 22nd birthday. Last weekend, the pair showed that they can also keep up with the big boys. Even more than that.

After the dressage of their first CCI4*-S, the pair were in the lead with 30.6 penalty points. They lost this in the course after 5.6 penalty points – one knockdown, 1.6 time faults. But they made up for (almost) everything in the cross-country: no obstacle faults, only 0.8 time faults and the fourth-best cross-country round. This meant a final result of 37 penalty points and second place overall. A huge success!

Only the two-time Australian Olympic rider and 2021 silver medal winner, Kevin McNab, was better (32.5) with Faro Imp, a ten-year-old son of the five-star show jumping stallion F One USA, who is also registered with the Oldenburg Verband.

Further German results from Sopot

The second best pair in the CCI4*-S after one of three clear rounds were Nico Aldinger and the ten-year-old Holstein gelding Bart by Barcley, who only added 0.4 time penalty points to their dressage result in the course and thus came third with 37.6 minus points.

Nadine Marzahl and her long-standing successful partner Victoria also made it into the top ten. They came fifth after fourth place in the dressage, 4.4 penalty points in the course and 4.8 time faults in the cross-country.

Only ten pairs competed in the CCI4*-L, six of which finished. Third place went to Heike Jahncke on her CCI4*-L debutant Olimond’s Quibelle, a ten-year-old OS mare by Verdi, who thus also has her qualification result for larger tasks in the bag. She has already shown herself well several times in short tests. She has yet to compete in a long test.

In the CCI3*-S, Nicolai Aldinger rode the ten-year-old DSP mare Giganta by Landskron to the top of the field with her dressage score of 30 minus points. Valentino fan Nadine Marzahl rode her other daughter of the KWPN stallion by Now or Never, the nine-year-old Viva L’Amour, to third place (31.3), also with a dressage score.

Anna Siemer and the ten-year-old Hanoverian mare Grazia by Gem of India led the field in the CCI3*-L – here, too, the dressage result remained the same, in this case 30.4 minus points. In third place, Pita Schmid and her First Ampere daughter Favorita V demonstrated that their Preis der Besten title in their first year with the young riders was no coincidence by bringing their 33 minus points from the dressage to the finish in Sopot.

Nadine Marzahl took her third top ten placing with the seven-year-old Grey Top daughter Good Vibes Only in the CCI2*-S: third place with 32.6 minus points for her performance in the dressage arena.

You can find all the results from Sopot here.