The first world rankings 2026 for dressage and show jumping with big jumps and milestones

World Ranking List Jumping

Nothing has changed in places one to seven among the show jumpers. Kent Farrington from the USA is still in the lead, followed by Scott Brash (GBR) and Christian Kukuk. Ben Maher (GBR), the 2021 Olympic champion, is in fourth place behind the 2024 Olympic champion. Fifth is Global Champions Tour overall winner Gilles Thomas ahead of European Champion Richard Vogel.

Career leap for France’s new superstar Nina Mallevaey

Frenchwoman Nina Mallevaey has reached a milestone in her career. She turned 26 three days ago, and her birthday was marked by a leap into the top ten in the world rankings. She came from twelfth place and is now eighth. And that’s just one year after she made it into the top 100 of the world rankings for the first time. She earned her points in part by winning the Brussels Grand Prix (CSI5 career highlight for France’s new superstar Nina Mallevaey) at the end of August. It was the first time she had triumphed in a five-star Grand Prix.

She was in the saddle on Dynastie de Beaufour, a horse that brought her further outstanding successes last season. This began in January with a third place in the CSI4 Grand Prix of Wellington. Then they were third in the Grand Prix of Rome, second in the Grand Prix of Rotterdam, fifth in Aachen and third in Dinar. After so many outstanding placings at five-star level, the pair were able to celebrate their first five-star victory in August. In Brussels, they first delivered two clear rounds in the Nations Cup and then also won the Grand Prix.

The pair, who train under the guidance of Helena Stormanns, have been on tour in the US since the fall and have been jumping from success to success here too, such as third place in the World Cup show jumping competition in Arcadia, California, and most recently fifth place in the Grand Prix of the CSI5 in Thermal, California.

The Germans among the top 50

The top ten is completed by McLain Ward (USA), who moved up two places from eleven to nine, and Mallevaey’s compatriot, who dropped one place and is now tenth.

From a German perspective, the world rankings continue with Sophie Hinners. She came from 19th place and is now number 21. Daniel Deußer has climbed one place, from 27th to 26th. Christian Ahlmann went up two places, from 36th to 34th. Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann finished 2025 as number 43 and will start 2026 as number 45 in the world.

You can find the complete ranking list here.

Dressage

The dressage riders who moved up more than 100 places in the world rankings last season both come from the American continent. The first is Christian Simonson from the USA, who was 151st in the world rankings in December and is now number 15.

Simonson is part of the Zen Elite Equestrian Center team run by former children’s nurse Heidi Humphries, who has built up a fortune as an entrepreneur and fulfilled a dream with the stables. In addition to Simonson, Olympic silver medalist Adrienne Lyle and Endel Ots, who took over the Cathrine Dufour-trained Bohemian, who competed successfully for Denmark at the 2021 Olympic Games and European Championships, was then sold and moved around quite a bit before finding a home in the USA, also ride here.

The Zen Elite Equestrian Center has invested in Emmelie Scholtens’ Apache son Indian Rock for Christian Simonson. She had advanced to the freestyle final with the beautiful KWPN stallion at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, after which he moved. Apparently, Simonson and “Rocky” had been looking for and found each other. Simonson had no Grand Prix experience to date, but competed for the USA at the 2023 Pan American Games, where he won three gold medals in the small tour, one in the team competition and two in the individual competition. At the time, he was still in the saddle on Son of a Lady. He made his CDI Grand Prix debut with Indian Rock in May and won. Since then, the pair have been unbeaten and have secured the US championship at Grand Prix level (and also the U25 championship).

Canada’s rising star

The second big climber of the month is Canada’s Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu. She came from 184th place and is now 36th in the world rankings. However, her career curve was not quite as steep as that of Christian Simonson. The 37-year-old was already part of the silver team at the 2015 Pan American Games. She competed at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon and at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

She has the twelve-year-old KWPN gelding Jaccardo by Desperado to thank for the fact that she has now suddenly made up so much ground. She has been riding the chestnut since 2023, when she presented him in the small tour. His first appearances in Intermédiaire A and Inter II followed in 2024. 2025 was his first Grand Prix season. In which they won four tournaments and came second twice in Grand Prix and Freestyle, most recently at the World Cup tournaments in Toronto and Ocala.

The top dressage riders

Belgium’s superstar Justin Verboomen has been number one in the dressage world for some time now – and he remains so this month. However, a lot has changed behind him. Becky Moody from Great Britain is now in second place, followed by Isabell Werth. The latter has dropped one place, Moody has gained two. Great Britain’s Charlotte Fry moved up one place and is now fourth. Her compatriot Carl Hester moved up from sixth to fifth. Frederic Wandres was seventh and is now sixth. Katharina Hemmer was also involved in the move up the rankings – from eighth to seventh. New in the top ten is Norway’s Isabel Freese, who comes from eleventh place and starts the season as number eight. The two Swedes Patrik Kittel and Maria von Essen have held on to ninth and tenth place.

More Germans among the top 50

Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, who has just lost her great hope for the future, Diallo, has moved up from twelfth to eleventh place. Raphael Netz slipped from 15th to 16th, Ingrid Klimke from 17th to 18th, Matthias Alexander Rath is 25th and was 24th.

European U25 champion Moritz Treffinger, who immediately broke into the world’s top 50 in his first “real” Grand Prix season, continues to make progress – he climbed from 36th place to 34th.

Carina Scholz, on the other hand, has dropped six places and is now number 39, while Anabel Balkenhol has gained further ground and climbed from 43rd to 42nd.

You can find the complete list here.