Germany Wins the EEF Nations Cup in Budapest: Maximilian Lill Scores a Double-Zero

The EEF Nations Cup in Budapest, a CSI3*-level series, took place at 35 Grand. You wouldn’t have known it by looking at the horses—hardly any of them entered the arena in the Hungarian capital looking sweaty.

After the first round, the Czech team was still in the lead with a perfect score of zero errors. While Nikola Bielikova, Oliver Pisarik, and Ales Opatrny completed the 465-meter course with 15 jumps without any knockdowns, Sara Vingralkova and Roch’n Roll MXL racked up a whopping 26 faults—but those didn’t count, as they were the discard result. Five teams, including the German squad, were tied for second place after the first round with just four penalty points each.

Second Round of the EEF Nations Cup in Budapest Yields a Clear Result

In the second round, it was the German team’s turn to shine. Interestingly, the roles were reversed. Lead rider Tobias Meyer also finished with four penalty points in the second round. In the first round, his gray horse Caillou by Christian had hit the boundary tape at the water jump quite clearly. Justine Tebbel, who had misjudged the distance at the second-to-last jump in the first round, rode Cote de Pablo—her German Championship horse—through the course with a clear round.

Britt Roth and Jeffrey had delivered a dream ride in the first round. Every jump was a breeze. The nine-year-old son of Comme il faut jumped as if each obstacle could have been raised at least ten centimeters higher. In the second round, the pair from Rhineland-Palatinate recorded the lowest score with two knockdowns. Maximilian Lill was the most consistent rider with Kommandant, the second Comme il faut offspring on the German team. Two clear rounds, delivered with confidence.

This resulted in a total of eight penalty points, which secured the victory over the Czech Republic. The team tied for second place with the delegation from the Netherlands (Finn Boerekamp/Just Penelope JW van de Moerhoeve, 0/4; Logan Fiechter/Lieverella, 4/4; Mel Thijssen/Arnold, 4/8; Jur Vrieling/VDL Mattias, 0/0).

Results of the EEF Nations Cup, Budapest 2026