Belgian Olympic Dressage Team Riders Nominated for 2025 Equigala Awards

Dressage

Belgium

The riders on the Belgian Olympic dressage team have been nominated for several awards to be handed out at the annual Belgian Riders' Gala.

The Equigala will be held on 20 January 2025 and honours the Belgian equestrian athletes of 2024.

The Belgian Olympic dressage team, as well as individual riders Larissa Pauluis and Domien Michiels have been selected for an award. The best scoring Belgian at the Olympics in Paris, this year's record score-setter for Belgian dressage sport and winner of the 4* Hagen, Flore de Winne, has been snubbed for a personal award but is included as a team nominee.

Belgian paralympic champion Michele George is up for two awards: a personal one and her one for her German bred horse.

The press release about the nominations stated that they were made by "the national committees and the management board of the KBRSF."

The management board includes Stephan Detry, Glenn Maes, Eugene Mathy, Philippe de Meersman and Jean-Pierre Lienard. The dressage committee includes Thomas Eyckmans, Mariette Withages, Elise van Gysel, Didier Deschauwer, Wim Verwimp, Anne D'Ieteren, Jil Montauban, and Freddy Leyman.

The nominations for the awards are:

Athlete of the Year:

Larissa Pauluis (Dressage) - Winner CDI5* Freestyle Crozet and second at the CDI-W GP Neumünster.
Lara de Liedekerke (Eventing) - Winner of 5* Luhmühlen and 2nd in the FEI rankings.
Gilles Thomas (Jumping) - Winner GP Longines Global Champions Tour Shanghai, 3rd GP CSI5* Madrid, 2nd GP CSI5* Cannes, CSIO5* Rotterdam clear and 4th with the team.

Team of the Year:

Team Dressage Olympics Paris - 5th place.
Team Jumping YR - Bronze medal at the European Championship Jumping Kronenberg and 1st place in the Nations Cup Final Youth Lier.
Team Driving H4 - Multiple bronze team medals at international competitions (Windsor, Aachen, Kladruby, Exloo) and silver in Saumur.

Horse of the Year:

Intermezzo vh Meerdaalhof (Dressage) - Winner World Cup Gothenburg, 5th with the Team in Paris.
Hooney d'Arville (Eventing) - Winner 5* Luhmühlen.
Best of 8 (Para-Dressage) - Double gold with Michèle George at the Paralympic Games.
Toupie de la Roque (Jumping) - Winner Basel World Cup.
Bond Jamesbond de Hay (Jumping) - Winner World Cup Oslo.

Performance of the Year:

Dries Degrieck (Driving) - Winner World Cup Leipzig.
Domien Michiels (Dressage) - Winner World Cup Gothenburg.
Lara de Liedekerke (Eventing) - Winner CCI5* Luhmühlen.
Michèle George (Para-Dressage) - Double gold at the Paralympic Games in Paris.

Rookie of the Year:

Mathieu Bourdeaud'hui (Jumping) - European bronze in team at the European Jumping YR, silver at the World Young Horse Championships in Lanaken, and team winner at the CSIO YR in Opglabbeek.
Jette De Jong (Dressage) - 1st place in Freestyle YR Aachen and 11th in the FEI rankings.
Evelyne Putters (Jumping) - European team bronze, two GP YR wins, and a GP 2* victory.

The winners are decided by public vote.