The Open Weekly:
A weekly update across eventing, jumping, and dressage, covering results, leaderboard shifts, and the next Open qualifiers.
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Eventing
Bronze for the US Eventing Team at the Worlds
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Aachen delivered the United States a team bronze. Great Britain took gold on 84.0 and Germany silver on 95.6, with Michael Jung & fischerChipmunk FRH winning the individual title on 23.0 ahead of Ros Canter and Laura Collett. The US finished on 113.5.
They got there on the last day. Fifth after cross country, the US side added 1.2 penalties in the show jumping. Ireland added 12.4 and Switzerland 21.6, and both went backwards. Diarmuid Byrne made the case on last week's preview podcast that this team only needed to be within touching distance on Sunday, and that is how the medal arrived.
William Coleman & Diabolo led the team with and individual fourth place finish on 30.0. They finished on their dressage score, one of only four combinations in the field to do so and one of six to come home inside the cross-country optimum time.
Boyd Martin & Cooley Nutcracker rode to team orders on Saturday, taking 6.4 time penalties, sixteen seconds over the optimum, and no jumping faults. A clear round on Sunday moved them up to 13th on 37.3. Phillip Dutton & Denim closed the score out in 27th on 46.2, with the only penalties of the final day, 1.2 for time.
Three counting rounds, three clear over the fences. No other team in Aachen managed that.
The squad rode without two of its five. Caroline Pamukcu & HSH Blake were eliminated on cross country. Tamra Smith & Lillet 3 were withdrawn before the final horse inspection from 18th place.
Series points resume at The Fork at Tryon in September. Five qualifiers remain before the Final at Morven in October.
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Jumping
Five Americans Ready for the Main Stadium
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The first horse inspection was completed on Monday. The jumping gets going properly on Wednesday with the speed leg, the team medals are decided on Friday, and the individual final closes the championship on Sunday.
- Katie Dinan & Out of the Blue SCF
- Lillie Keenan & Fasther
- Laura Kraut & Baloutinue
- McLain Ward & High Star Hero
- Natalie Dean & Mr Boombastic
Five named, four count. Kraut's ride changed last week, with Bisquetta withdrawn on veterinary advice and Baloutinue called in, and the late substitute is now the strongest American individual chance in the model. The 16-year-old was second in the Rolex Grand Prix at Aachen last summer and jumped 4/0 for the winning US side in the Aga Khan Trophy at Dublin this month.
Ireland lead the model. Shane Sweetnam & James Kann Cruz are the individual favorite in the field at 7.1% and Darragh Kenny & Eddy Blue are third, which is where the Irish team number comes from. Sweetnam took the leading international rider award at Wellington in March.
Seven LA28 team quota spots are on the line for everyone else. The US are already qualified as hosts, so this week is about medals.
Ward and Kraut both jumped the 2006 World Equestrian Games on this grass, Ward on Sapphire and Kraut on Miss Independent, taking team silver. Twenty years on they are back.
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Dressage
How the Series Field Fared at the World Championships
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Dressage's second-biggest stage concluded on Saturday, with Charlotte Fry of Great Britain winning gold in both the Grand Prix Special and the Freestyle. The FEI World Championships in Aachen are both a milestone for Olympic hopefuls and a primary team qualification event for the Games. Germany claimed team gold on home soil, leading the six nations that secured LA28 quotas alongside Great Britain, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The United States placed eighth in the team standings, a result carrying zero qualification pressure, as the US is automatically qualified for LA28 as host nation.
Eleven US Equestrian Open riders competed in the opening phase, the Grand Prix, with Germany's Isabell Werth and Frederic Wandres posting the strongest results. Werth & Wendy de Fontaine placed 4th on 79.876%, and Wandres & Bluetooth OLD placed 9th on 75.963%.
All eleven finished as follows in the Grand Prix:
In championship format, only the top 30 advance to the Grand Prix Special, which put five Series riders through: Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu, Julio Mendoza Loor, Christian Simonson, Werth, and Wandres.
The top 18 then advance to the Freestyle, the sport's flashiest and most popular class. Here the Germans carried the Series contingent. Isabell Werth captured individual bronze on 88.650%, behind Charlotte Fry and Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, the top individual result by any Series rider all week. Wandres closed his championship run in 15th on 76.246%.
With Aachen wrapped, the focus shifts back to domestic qualification points. The US Equestrian Open of Dressage resumes late September at Dressage at Devon, then heads to TerraNova in October before culminating at the Final in November.
Thanks for joining us for this week's edition. A fresh update of The Open Weekly drops on the site every Tuesday.
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