-- FEI press release, edited by Eurodressage - Photos © Silke Rottermann
Marie Vonderheyden (USA), Heidemarie Dresing (GER), and Rixt van der Horst (NED) became the individual gold medalists on the first day of competition at the 2026 World Para Dressage Championships in Aachen on Wednesday 19 August 2026.
Grade I: Battle of the Titans
The 20-strong Grade I competition saw USA’s Marie Vonderheyden crowned Grade I World Champion riding the nine-year-old Fan Tastico H. They convincingly took the title on a score of 76.709% in their first FEI Para Dressage World Championship together. Fan Tastico H previously carried Roxanne Trunnell to medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
“This is my first Championship so for me it’s hard to find all the words I want to say after becoming champion,” Vonderheyden smiled. “It was kind of magic in the arena today and a really beautiful test.”
Vonderheyden could hardly have wished for a better birthday present: The 46-year-old previously competed successfully in eventing for France. Following a severe riding accident eleven years ago, she spent two months in a coma and continues to struggle with significant health impairments. Now, in her World Championship debut, she won Gold at the first attempt. “My horse is such a great guy,” the winner said happily. “I am very pleased with my test – even if there are, of course, still things we can improve.”
Great Britain’s Mari Durward-Akhurst took the silver medal on a score of 74.542%. This is, almost unbelievably, the 19-year-old Athene Lindebjerg’s first-ever FEI Para Dressage World Championship, having competed at championship level since 2016, under three separate riders.
“Everything came together [today] and she was really up for it,” Durward-Akhurst said of the evergreen Danish warmblood mare.
The competition had got off to a thrilling start with seasoned veteran Sara Morganti of Italy scoring 74.459% to lay down the gauntlet with her new horse, Bond Girl 18. That was enough to claim them the bronze medal in the seven-year-old mare’s first championship.
The young horse exceeded all of Morganti’s expectations, winning a medal so early on in their partnership.
“I have only had her since April, so it’s a very short time in the world of Para Dressage to feel a connection with and trust your horse. For Grade I especially, this can usually take time,” Morganti said of her bond with the Hanoverian mare.
“She did very, very well in that arena for what is her first ever championship and only her third competition. It’s completely insane really when you think about what she has just achieved.”
Close at the top for Grade II
Grade II went from 7 combinations at last year's Europeans in Ermelo to a field of 11 this year at the World Championships. Four years ago at the 2022 World Championships there were 14 riders in total.
It was a home victory for Germany’s Heidemarie Dresing with the expressive Poesie 143, scoring just enough to claim the gold, finishing on 75.483%. The horse initially spooked and showed resistance in the first movement of the test but then produced a fluid and harmonious performance which to the judges sufficed for the win.
“My horse is my partner, my friend and we trust each other completely,” the triple FEI European champion and now World champion said of her connection with the 11-year-old Oldenburg mare. “The trust between us is the culmination of everything we do, I want to show that it is possible to achieve great things in harmony with our horses through trust, respect and true partnership.”
“I knew it was going to be a very close competition because Grade II is now so strong. But I’m sitting on a horse that I have been sitting on for many years now and I know what he can do,” Kristensen said of her long-term partnership with the 18-year-old Danish warmblood gelding. “My trainer Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour was with me today and we had a great warm-up with him. She gave me some great advice going into the arena to ‘keep building on that incredible feeling’, which I did, and he gave me the perfect test.”
Great Britain’s Jemima Green clinched the bronze medal on her eight-year-old Oldenburg gelding, Fantabulous. Scoring 75.241%, the pair finished just 0.242 percentage points behind gold on the podium today, and the Athlete is excited for what is to come in her remaining two tests.
“He’s still young, and the fact that he went in there today and performed and coped with the atmosphere is great,” the FEI Para Dressage World Championship debutant said of their performance. “We had a moment of miscommunication when we were supposed to be trotting but were still in walk, but that’s okay and we learn from it. The rest of the test felt really smooth, and he was really relaxed in there, and we can build from that.”
Grade III: Van der Horst is Golden
It was the Dutch Athlete who came out on top, posting an incredible score of 77.534% on the expressive 11-year-old stallion Eisma’s Royal Fonq N.O.P. to take the gold medal, producing a fluid and harmonious performance.
“It was amazing to go into that impressive arena today. I could feel that Fonq was a little excited and looking around due to the atmosphere, but I’m so proud of how he settled into the test,” Van der Horst said of their first FEI Para Dressage World Championship performance together.
“He did an amazing job and he tries his best, always. It felt like a long wait to find out the result, but it was worth it!”
The silver medal was won by Tobias Thorning Joergensen with a score of 75.100%, riding the championship debutant Blue Hors Zackorado. “He’s not that experienced in big arenas, so my aim was to come with a happy horse, and my job was to give him a nice ride, which I think we succeeded with – he gave me everything today,” Thorning Joergensen said of the 10-year-old Oldenburg stallion. The combination had a hairy start when Zackorado did not pass the trot up initially. A stone in his hoof was the cause and once the farrier fixed the issue the horse was accepted for competition.
Bronze went to Francesca Salvadè riding Escari on a score of 74.767% for the Italian’s first-ever FEI Para Dressage World Championship medal. “I have known him for four years now and he is really such a super young horse,” Salvadè said of the nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding.
Already looking ahead to her second test in the team event on Friday, she said: “I hope to do my best for the team, because there is a qualification for the Los Angeles Paralympics [at stake], so it’s really important for us to do well.”
Stage is set for day two
Thursday sees the champions of the final two grades being decided, with the Grade IV competition getting underway at 08:30 local time, followed by the culmination of the individual competition with the Grade V competitors taking to the arena from 12:30 local time.
Photos © Silke Rottermann - no reproduction without permission
Related Link
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2026 World Championships Dressage