World Championship Qualifier in Eventing in Avenches (SUI): Julia Krajewski Leads After Dressage, Ahead of Michael Jung and Christoph Wahler

It’s shaping up to be a showdown between Olympic champions: At the final qualifying event for the World Eventing Championships in Aachen, Julia Krajewski—riding her Olympic horse Nickel as the last competitor—edged out Michael Jung, who had been in the lead until then, in Avenches, Switzerland. Krajewski scored exactly half a point more than Michael Jung, who had been in the lead after the first day with 22.2 penalty points riding the Hanoverian Chipmunk.

Olympic Trio Leads After Dressage at World Championship Trials in Avenches

Julia Krajewski finished with a score of 22.1 penalty points. Going into the cross-country course, Christoph Wahler and the Hanoverian D’AccordFRH are in third place. With 25.1 penalty points, the pair from Klosterhof Medingen posted their best result to date in the dressage portion of an eventing competition.

Switzerland’s Felix Vogg finished fourth (25.4) with Colero, the winner at Luhmühlen. A total of seven riders from Germany made it into the top ten. Libussa Lübbeke came in fifth with Caramia FRH (26.0). The French gray, Gainsbourg de Bedon, has been with Christoph Warne for just over a year. Until then, the Mylord Carthago son ideally needed Google Translate for the word “dressage.” In Avenches, the pair is in sixth place. With 26.9 penalty points, this duo has never performed this well in any of its few appearances on the international circuit. In Luhmühlen, they had some bad luck at the second water complex. Tomorrow, the gray horse will have the chance to prove himself on the 3,420-meter course featuring 20 obstacles and 34 jumps.

Young Horses Performing Well

Close behind is Julia Krajewski with her second horse, Tullabeg Platinum—“Pauli,” the 2026 Luhmühlen runner-up (27.1)—in seventh place. Arne Bergendahl, riding Bronco, NRW—a Road2LA horse—also set a personal best in the arena at this World Championship qualifier: 28.1 penalty points, putting him below the magic 30-point mark—another “personal best.” And perhaps—provided, of course, that the powerful gray, bred by the Bergendahl family, demonstrates his qualities in the cross-country and show jumping courses—the path toward a World Championships nomination may lie ahead.

Hansen-Hotopp is unavailable

Malin Hansen-Hotopp will not be competing. The runner-up at the 2026 German Championships in Luhmühlen came down with a gastrointestinal infection shortly before leaving for Switzerland. As a result, she was unable to compete, but the Eventing Committee of the German Olympic Equestrian Committee (DOKR) has decided that she may subject her Holsteiner gray, Quidditch, to another fitness test before the nomination deadline. This means that this pair still has a chance at being nominated for the World Championships on home soil.

Interim Results: CSI4*-S Avenches