2026 World Championships in Aachen: Summary of the EQUI PAGES newsletter on Steve Guerdat, outstanding sport horses, and the signals emerging from the World Championships

I’ve asked myself this question quite often over the past few days. Maintaining a healthy distance from the subject under consideration goes without saying. Anything that isn’t a news report is commentary. Commentary can inspire and criticize, praise and condemn. It’s important to keep the two separate. But it’s also okay to be pointed. After all, the author’s name is right there at the bottom.

That’s why Steve Guerdat is the ideal ambassador for the sport

Why do these reflective sentences appear at the beginning of this review? The answer is two words: Steve Guerdat. The new world champion has always fascinated me. This Swiss rider isn’t just someone who consistently brings new horses into the sport; he’s also someone who, through wonderful riding It’s been striking for decades. It’s hard for me not to gush when I write about Steve. Because the 44-year-old is a true standout—not only in the saddle, but also off the horse— A unique individual. He is thoughtful and only speaks up when he has something to say.. He has a Opinion (for example, on the Global Champions Tour)), which he advocates. He has a vision for the sport he loves so much, and he doesn’t hesitate to express it. A conversation with Steve Guerdat is never just empty talk; it’s always something from which you take away a lesson. Of course he takes a stand—sometimes emotionally, but always with nuance. He is an ambassador for equestrian sports like few others.

One last bit of praise: Seeing how Guerdat remained super cool and focused right up to the last jump, only to then let all his emotions—which are, after all, an important part of his complex character—run free—that was a special World Championship moment.

As much as I would have liked to see every single member of the German World Championship team win an individual medal, the result was clear. The sport decided, and the right person won.

That’s why, as a reporter, you have every reason to be excited!

There’s always room for improvement

Which does not relieve one of the obligation to question oneself. For example, whether you’ve made it clear enough that, even though athletes still aren’t doing things the way they ideally should from a riding instruction perspective, they’re no longer performing quite as poorly as you’ve seen in the past. Your perspective can become jaded; your eye gets used to it. That’s not good. You always have to keep that in mind. You might think, “XY just isn’t picking it up anymore.” Just as a dressage judge, for example, must mentally start from scratch time and again, the reporter must also describe, analyze, and contextualize the here and now. And such an analysis can turn out to be either positive or negative. The key is whether, in the case of poor performances, one can identify intent or a lack of skill. We talked about this at great length during our time in Aachen.

Images

That

Stick

There are many images from Aachen that stick in your mind. Some forever. For example, “Katha” Hemmer’s spectacular Grand Prix, everyfreestyle performance byMount St. John and Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, Raphael Netz’s collected walk, the way Justin Verboomen took Zonik Plus for a stroll, Julia Krajewski’s dressage, the cross-country rounds by Michael Jung and Christoph Wahler, and Malin Hansen-Hotopp’s show jumping round—partnership means being able to rely on one another. United Touch at the vet check, the stallion’s presence, but also the miscommunication at the wall and the four (instead of five, which had already caused problems for some horses) canter strides between the triple bar and the water jump, how Richard Vogel and Sophie Hinners took time for fans, or para-rider Anna Lena Niehues, who arrived stressed from home, where she’s looking after a horde of kids on vacation in addition to 40 horses. Finally, the fact that—unlike some Grand Prix performances—all the para-equestrian horses moved with ease and a supple, swinging back.

Fortunately, very few negative images have stuck in the memory. But unfortunately, there were some: Abdullah Alsharbatly is the first to come to mind. His rides on Diriyah—formerly known as Dubai du Cedre—were enough to put anyone off. That’s not the kind of thing you want to see. The Spaniard Armando Trapote and Tornado were also borderline, even if the horse was considered unrideable. Where there’s light, there’s also shadow.

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Back to the luminaries. My first horse was Pirat, an oversized half-Arabian. Also a gray. Did that shape me “in early childhood” (well)?

Answer: No! Because my colleague Dominique Wehrmann also raves about the World Championships’ special gray horses: Quidditch, Erin, Hello Mango, Holst Freda …

Dominique had already taken a shine to Harry Charles’ bronze medalist even before Aachen. She was her insider tip. And she did it without using ChatGPT, as Harry had done—“Should I compete in the individual final, or not?” He should have asked Dominique.

More horse biographies, and what a Harley has to do with the silver medal

We’ve already written biographies for some of the horses. We’re working on more—including horses with different coat colors. Did you know? The gelding owned by Thibeau Spits—whom I’ll simply call Impress for the sake of brevity—came to the Spits family when Thibeau was 14 years old. Today, the Belgian horse is 25 years old and, as of last Sunday, has a World Championship silver medal in individual show jumping. His father spotted the horse while he was test-riding a Harley-Davidson. Dominique looked into the details. The full story will be available soon on our website.

Two more things about Aachen: The Team Performance by the German Show Jumpers and her calm, stylistically unique, yet simply Those thrilling rounds were a great showcase for show jumping. Finally: What a master Frank Rothenberger is! The course designer managed to have the only three horses on the podium that remained clear on the final day. And the gold medal went to the only pair that didn’t knock a single rail off the stands during the entire World Championship. And yet some people—myself included—had already turned up their noses when, after the first round of the Nations Cup, more than a third of the horses had remained clear. Great footage, fantastic sport, the right winners—a home run, hats off!

Back to normal…

And then this: 14 straight days of Aachen all the way. We’ve gained a lot of new subscribers to our newsletter. For those who joined us during the World Cup: From now on, our posts will return to a weekly schedule on Mondays. And the tone will become a bit more objective again, depending on what’s on the agenda.

As always, please feel free to send suggestions, praise, or criticism to the email address below.

The final word on the World Cup goes to the team of photographers led by Stefan Lafrentz and Dirk Caremans. What you’ve done for us has been incredible. We—and everyone who was able to experience so many facets of Aachen thanks to your photos—say thank you!

With that in mind—see you next Monday!

Jan Tönjes

jan.toenjes@equi-pages.de

This is the EQUI PAGES newsletter—sent daily from Aachen during the World Equestrian Games

This text was first published on August 24, 2026.

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