The 2026 FEI World Championships in Aachen: finished, with results in all six disciplines.

Status on 21 October 2026

All six disciplines held in Aachen are finished: dressage, eventing, vaulting, para dressage, jumping and four-in-hand driving. The endurance World Championship was never part of the Aachen award; it is still to come, at the Butheeb International Endurance Village near Abu Dhabi from 14 to 20 December 2026 (Your Horse, 6 August 2026), and has no result. Its story is on endurance championships.

How Aachen got the championships, and when they ran

The FEI awarded the 2026 World Championships in these six disciplines to Aachen at its General Assembly in Mexico City, on a joint bid by the German Equestrian Federation (FN) and the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein (ALRV) (CHIO Aachen, 19 November 2023). The organiser noted that 2026 came exactly 20 years after Aachen hosted the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games. More on the venue is on the Aachen page.

The start date differs by source. CHIO Aachen and the Aachen tourist office give 11 to 23 August 2026. Some previews, including Horse Illustrated's and the Chronicle of the Horse's, gave 10 to 23 August, apparently counting the first horse inspection.

The champions at a glance

Dressage

Team (Grand Prix, 12 August): gold Germany 235.063, silver Great Britain 231.445, bronze Denmark 229.426 (Eurodressage). Germany rode Frederic Wandres (Bluetooth), Raphael Netz (Great Escape Camelot), Katharina Hemmer (Denoix PCH) and Isabell Werth (Wendy de Fontaine); Britain rode Charlotte Fry (Glamourdale), Carl Hester (Fame), Becky Moody (Jagerbomb) and Fiona Bigwood (Donna Bella). An FEI release headline called it Germany's 13th World Championship team gold.

Grand Prix Special: gold Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale 82.295%, silver Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour (DEN) and Mount St John Freestyle 80.927%, bronze Katharina Hemmer and Denoix PCH 80.866% (FEI release headline and Eurodressage, both via search summaries; the Eurodressage report itself would not load).

Freestyle (evening of 15 August): gold Fry and Glamourdale 91.907%, silver Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St John Freestyle 91.236%, bronze Werth and Wendy de Fontaine 88.650% (British Dressage, 16 August 2026). Fry and Glamourdale won both individual titles, as they had in Herning in 2022.

Eventing

Cross country ran on 15 August and the final jumping phase on Sunday 16 August. Team: gold Great Britain 84.0 penalties, silver Germany 95.6, bronze United States 113.5 (British Equestrian). Britain's team was Ros Canter (Lordships Graffalo), Laura Collett (London 52), Tom McEwen (JL Dublin) and Gemma Stevens, who did not complete cross country, per British Equestrian. An FEI headline said Britain broke a team record, and its summary called 84.0 the lowest team score at a senior global championship; that page refused our request, so we could not read the claim in full.

Individual: gold Michael Jung (GER) and fischerChipmunk FRH 23.0, silver Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo 23.4, bronze Laura Collett and London 52 28.0 (Hannoveraner Verband, 16 August 2026; British Equestrian).

Jung's title count differs by source. The FEI's headline calls this his fifth individual gold. British Equestrian calls it his second World individual title, after 2010. Both can be right if the FEI is counting Olympic and World individual golds together, but we have not confirmed that reading.

British Equestrian lists the nations that earned LA 2028 eventing places at Aachen: Great Britain and Germany as medallists, plus Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden and Belgium, with the USA already qualified as host.

Vaulting

Held on 15 and 16 August; all results from Horse Sport's wrap-up, with Szemes's bronze named by equi-pages.de (15 August 2026), and an FEI release headline named Layher, Jabet and Germany as world champions.

Para dressage

The team title was decided on Saturday 22 August: gold USA, silver Germany 229.875, bronze Netherlands 227.639, with Kate Shoemaker, Fiona Howard, Marie Vonderheyden and Rebecca Hart riding for the USA (Aachen 2026 organiser; Eurodressage, 23 August 2026). The US total is given as 236.135 by both the organiser and Eurodressage; one search summary gave 236.235.

Individual test golds went to Marie Vonderheyden (USA, Grade I), Heidemarie Dresing (GER, Grade II), Rixt van der Horst (NED, Grade III), Kate Shoemaker (USA, Grade IV) and Sophie Wells (GBR, Grade V), per Eurodressage. In the freestyles on 23 August, Horse Sport reports golds for Vonderheyden, Fiona Howard (USA), van der Horst, Shoemaker and Lena Malmstrom (SWE); the Aachen 2026 organiser's report of 23 August places Vonderheyden's freestyle gold in Grade I and Malmstrom's in Grade V. Full podiums, scores and the grades are on para dressage events.

Jumping

Team final (Friday 21 August, Main Stadium): gold Germany 4.48 penalties, silver Belgium 11.69, bronze Great Britain 12.98, fourth United States 16.85, fifth Italy 19.69 (Chronicle of the Horse; British Showjumping). Germany rode Marcus Ehning (Coolio 42), Sophie Hinners (Iron Dames Singclair), Daniel Deusser (Otello de Guldenboom) and Richard Vogel (United Touch S), and British Showjumping said none of the four lowered a pole that evening. Belgium's team was Nicola Philippaerts, Pieter Devos, Thibeau Spits and Abdel Said; Britain's was Ben Maher, Harry Charles, Adrian Whiteway and Scott Brash (Chronicle of the Horse).

Individual final (Sunday 23 August): gold Steve Guerdat (SUI) and Dynamix de Belheme 0.86, silver Thibeau Spits (BEL) and Impress-K van't Kattenheye Z 5.60, bronze Harry Charles (GBR) and LT Holst Freda 7.17 (Jumper News; Chronicle of the Horse via search summary). An FEI release headline, seen in search, made Guerdat the first Swiss rider to win the individual jumping world title.

Search summaries of Chronicle of the Horse and other reports list Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Ireland and France as earning LA 2028 jumping team places at Aachen, with the USA in as host; we have not read that list in full.

Driving (four-in-hand)

Final day 23 August. Individual: gold Boyd Exell (AUS) 142.64 penalties, silver Dries Degrieck (BEL) 148.85, bronze Chester Weber (USA). Team: gold Netherlands 315.13, silver Australia 317.25, bronze Belgium 325.52 (Aachen 2026 organiser). The organiser's headline calls it Exell's eighth world title, and an FEI release headline describes eight in a row for Exell and a record 13th team gold for the Netherlands.

Gold count

Counting the golds listed on this page gives 25: Germany 7, USA 6, Great Britain 4, Netherlands 3, France 2, and Australia, Sweden and Switzerland 1 each. This is our own tally from the results above, not an official medal table.

Earlier World Championships, from the first in 1953 to the split championships of 2022, are on World Championships history.