-- FEI press release, edited by Eurodressage - Photos © Silke Rottermann
Day two of the 2026 World Para Dressage Championship got underway on Thursday 20 August with the Grade IV competition this morning, which saw the World No.1 crowned World champion.
Shoemaker Gets Gold in Grade IV
Kate Shoemaker of the USA wowed the crowds with a foot-perfect test, earning 78.889% to win on the highest score of the competition so far. She rode her own American Hanoverian mare Vianne (by Vitalis x Ramiro's Bube). For the 39-year-old veterinarian from Idaho this was a personal best score.
Kate teamed up with the grey mare in 2024 at Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour’s stable. Shortly thereafter, Vianne had already secured Shoemaker her first individual Paralympic medal – Bronze in the Freestyle in Paris.
“Back then, she was only eight years old and our journey together was just beginning,” recounted Shoemaker, whose right side is affected by muscle weakness, spasms and impaired motor control. “We have simply grown closer and closer since then. Today, I was able to show just how extraordinary she is.”
“Everything was very good in the test, and I was so pleased with how she felt – the medal as the end result is just a bonus really,” Niehues said of the nine-year-old mare’s performance. “What’s important is to feel like we did our best, and she really did that for me today.”
The 41-year-old German rider, who lives with impairments on the right side of her body since undergoing surgery for a tumour on her cervical spine in 2017, put in a brilliant performance. “My mare is very sensitive. Which is why I am so proud of how well she focused on me in this atmosphere,” said the rider, who runs an equestrian center with her husband, delighted to have won her first World Championship medal.
“I thought he was fabulous,” Naylor said of her partner. “When you’re first to go [into the arena for the competition] and it’s my first time at a World Championship, I can’t say that I wasn’t a bit nervous, but I was super pleased with him. I felt like there was a real partnership in there and he actually really trusted me, he was just on fire! I could feel that he was very happy in the canter particularly.”
She added, “I would never have dared dream this would be possible for me."
Wells triumphs in Grade V
“I’m really proud of her,” Wells said. “I got the ride on her in December and started competing her pretty much straight away to campaign her [for World Championship team selection].”
The loudest cheer of the day from the Jumping competition in the Aachen Main Arena erupted just as Wells was about to proceed with her second medium trot, but the 10-year-old mare was totally unfazed by the commotion. “I wasn’t particularly worried about the atmosphere here with her, she’s just so chilled, she’d probably love it if she received that level of applause as she entered the arena,” Wells added.
“She gets better every time out,” said the multi-titled Paralympic, World and European Champion after her ride. Competing second in the starting order, the 36-year-old set a benchmark that none of the subsequent combinations could surpass. “The waiting was nerve-wracking,” admitted the experienced British rider, who was born with amniotic band syndrome.
“It was quite emotional when I came into the arena because this is his last championship and the reality of it kicked in as I was trotting around the edge. He’s super happy in his work, but I want him to retire at the top,” De Jong said of the 19-year-old Dutch warmblood gelding. “Before the final salute, I gave him a pat and said, ‘Let’s do this one last time.’"
The German crowd got to see another of their Athletes step onto the podium on home soil as Regine Mispelkamp claimed the bronze medal on a score of 72.974% with the 1'-year old KWPN bred Highlander Delight’s (by Florencio x Jazz).
“It’s fabulous being able to win a medal in Aachen – I saw the 2006 World Equestrian Games here on television and said to myself that this will be my aim to compete here one day, and today that dream came true,” she beamed.
One of the nicest rides of the day came from Swedish Lena Malmstrom aboard the 14-year old Swedish mare Fabulous Fidelie (by Floricello x Don Romantic). The mare had one hiccup in the trot extension which kept her from finishing on the podium. Or could it have been the huge judges' discrepancies. Her high score was 75.385% which ranked her second, but Italian judge Katharine Lucheschi saw something completely different and scored it 68,590%. The four other judges had her above 71.6% (Urban, Prain, Wysocki, Orsini).
Team competition
(Photo © Digishots)
The Grade I competition commences at 11:20 local time with Austria’s Julia Sciancalepore the first to go riding Heinrich IV, before the Grade III competition begins at 14:50 with Belgium’s Emma Vercammen and Odin.
With scores counting towards the FEI Para Dressage World Championship Team medals and qualification for Sunday’s Freestyle competition, and seven qualification spots for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games also up for grabs (not including hosts USA, who automatically qualify), every movement will count towards Team success, more medals and those vital Paralympic qualification spots.
Photos © Silke Rottermann - no reproduction without permission
Related Link
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2026 World Championships Dressage