The United States Take Bronze at Aachen and Diabolo Finishes Fourth in the World
Five US riders started at Aachen. All five had ridden a US Equestrian Open of Eventing Qualifier this season. The medal was built from the back: the first phase left them out of the picture, the second moved them into range, and the third was the cleanest day any nation had.
The United States won team bronze at the FEI Eventing World Championship in Aachen, and William Coleman & Diabolo finished fourth individually. The team were sixth after dressage and fifth after cross country. They took the medal on Sunday by adding 1.2 penalties across three show jumping rounds, the lowest team total of the championship.
Only of the five beat their 6RA. Tamie Smith & Lillet 3 scored 27.0 for eighth place, the only US rider inside the top ten and 1.1 better than the mare's 28.1 average. It was a clear step up from the test she produced at the Cosequin Lexington Kentucky Qualifier in April.
Everyone else went the other way. Coleman & Diabolo posted 30.0 for 21st against a 6RA of 26.8. Boyd Martin & Cooley Nutcracker were closest to form, 30.9 against a 30.3 average. Caroline Pamukcu & HSH Blake had two big mistakes in the test and finished on 32.3, 4.1 off their average. Phillip Dutton & Denim scored 32.6.
The test caught out better first-phase horses than these. It was the Olympic short test, tweaked again since Paris, and the closing sequence of flying changes cost combinations all the way up the order. The American counting total of 93.2 left them sixth, 20.4 behind Great Britain and 0.1 ahead of Ireland.
Giuseppe Della Chiesa stretched a short-format venue into a 9 minute 50 second track and it asked real questions. Of 85 starters, 53 jumped clear for a 62% clear rate, and those clear rounds averaged 12.5 time penalties. Six combinations caught the optimum time. One of them was from the US.
Coleman & Diabolo came home in 9:48 and climbed from 21st to sixth. Smith & Lillet 3 were clear with 8.0 time penalties, quicker than the average for the day, and sat 18th. Martin & Cooley Nutcracker added 6.4 and moved up to 23rd. Dutton & Denim added 12.4 and moved up to 33rd. Pamukcu & HSH Blake did not complete, their round ending at the Longines bank complex.
Four of the five American starters jumped clear, and three of those four went quicker than the average for clear rounds. The team moved to fifth on 112.3, behind Switzerland on 106.5 and Ireland on 110.1. Bronze was 5.8 away with one phase left.
Unfortunately, Lillet 3 came out of the finish with an overreach and Smith withdrew her before the final horse inspection. The mare is ten, it was her first championship, and she leaves Aachen with a huge amount of experience for the future. She is being looked after as she flies home to California.
The final phase was influential. Of 59 combinations, 18 jumped clear of jumping faults, 31%, and only 13 were clear inside the time, 22%. Two of those 13 were American. Coleman & Martin produced flawless clears inside the time. Dutton left every fence up, just taking 1.2 for time.
That total of 1.2 was the lowest of the sixteen teams, and lower than either of the nations above them. Germany added 5.2 and Great Britain 8.4. Switzerland added 21.6 and fell from third to fifth on 128.1. Ireland added 12.4 and finished fourth on 122.5. The United States finished on 113.5 for bronze.
Pamukcu, out of the competition since Saturday, spent the day supporting the team and the three riders who were still in it. HSH Blake, a Paris Olympian and runner-up at the Kentucky CCI5*-L in April, reroutes to Burghley.
Fourth on 30.0, in the strongest field ever assembled at an eventing championship. Diabolo was one of six to make the optimum time and one of four to finish on his dressage score, alongside the gold and silver medallists and 14th-placed Humble Glory.
He arrived with the profile for it. Diabolo came to Aachen with a perfect XCJ10, ten clear rounds from ten, a TSP of 92.7% and an Elo of 728. He won The Event at TerraNova in November 2025 on his way back from a year out injured, then won the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L in April. Aachen was a step up on both.
Diabolo is 14. Michael Jung's fischerChipmunk FRH won the world title at 18. Los Angeles 2028 is two years out and the United States are already qualified as hosts. Coleman has a horse who will be in the medal conversation when it comes.
Between them, the five riders have 32 championship starts. Dutton has fifteen of them, a run stretching back to Atlanta 1996.
The Series picks back up next month. Five Qualifiers remain before the US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final at Morven Park International & Fall Horse Trials, October 8 to 11, and a $200,000 purse. Smith leads the standings, Coleman is second.
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