Following Yuri Mansur's withdrawal from the World Championship team for Aachen, the Brazilian Federation has issued a statement

Monday was the day the show jumpers arrived at the World Championships in Aachen. On the same day, Yuri Mansur, a show jumper based in the Netherlands, released a statement in which he leveled serious accusations against the Brazilian equestrian federation, the Confederação Brasileira de Hipismo (CBH). Essentially, these allegations boil down to the fact that Mansur disagrees with the selection of the World Championships team.

The association has now issued a statement on this matter, titled “The CBH Explains the Selection of the Brazilian Show Jumping Team for the 2026 FEI World Championships in Aachen.”

First of all, the association notes that the final composition of the team was determined following the training camp and based on a technical evaluation of the pairs. The Brazilian team’s coach is Franke Sloothaak.

The full text of the statement

In June, the CBH named seven riders as part of the Brazilian selection process: Luciana Diniz, Marlon Zanotelli, Rodrigo Pessoa, Stephan Barcha, Yuri Mansur, Eduardo Pereira de Menezes, and Pedro Muylaert.

It was clear from the outset that five of the seven nominated riders would make up the Brazilian team for Aachen—consisting of four riders for the competition and one reserve rider. This is standard practice in elite sports and was known to all parties involved from the very beginning of the process.

The final team roster depended on the results of the training camp, which took place in Aachen from August 11 to 16, 2026, and during which the rider-horse pairs were observed and evaluated by expert staff. Until the final decision was made, any of the five pairs participating in the training camp could have been nominated for the competition. Accordingly, no rider was guaranteed a spot on the competition team, nor had the reserve position been determined in advance.

The selection was made by international coach Franke Sloothaak and his staff. It was based exclusively on technical criteria, with the goal of naming the team they believed was best suited to represent Brazil at the World Championships. The decision proved particularly difficult due to the high and consistently strong level of performance among the participating riders.

After the proposed team roster was announced, Yuri Mansur decided to leave the training center. The CBH respects the athlete’s decision. As a result of his departure, it became necessary to call up one of the athletes previously designated as a reserve rider. Consequently, Pedro Muylaert was added to the Brazilian roster.

The CBH emphasizes that the athlete announced his decision even before the final nomination of the riders—a process that was not formalized until after the official training and the team’s acclimatization in Aachen. Had Yuri Mansur decided to stay, he would have remained part of the Brazilian delegation.

Sports-related decisions are an integral part of every season, just as an athlete’s decision to pursue a different path is entirely legitimate. The CBH regrets this outcome, thanks Yuri Mansur for his successful career and his contributions to the Brazilian team, and wishes him the best of luck in this new chapter of his career.

The CBH, the coaching staff, and the entire delegation are now fully focused on Aachen and the ongoing preparations. With confident athletes, a dedicated team, and strong support from Brazilian fans, the delegation is looking forward with confidence to the upcoming competition days and aims to achieve outstanding results for Brazil.

In his statement on Instagram, Yuri Mansur himself did not mention that he intends to ride for another country in the future; he only stated that he will no longer be available for championships and Nations Cups.

Brazil’s first World Cup result is already in

Perhaps it was due to all the excitement, but the Brazilian team’s first rider, Marlon Zanotelli—who is competing in Aachen on Jana Wargers’ Dorette OLD—was forced to withdraw. At the striking wall—modeled after Aachen’s Elisenbrunnen—he jumped over one of the side sections instead of the center and continued riding. As a result, he was disqualified. This means he receives 20 more penalty points in this jumping competition than the worst rider who finished. He is thus effectively out of contention for the individual standings. He can serve as the team’s discard for this jumping competition, but he is allowed to compete again in the Nations Cup rounds, where he will have the chance to make up for his mistake.