The 2026 FEI World Championships Aachen kicked off in typical Aachen style with a flamboyant Opening Ceremony on Tuesday evening.
“Welcome Home” is the theme of this year’s World Championships and for some athletes in the Parade of Nations, it certainly is a very familiar venue.
The Opening Ceremony started with a parade of the 686 athletes – accompanied by the waving flags of the 65 participating nations, dancers glowing in purple and gold, countless horses and a dash of royal splendour. Three royal families – from the Netherlands, Denmark and Great Britain – presented their magnificent carriages. Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange, Her Royal Highness Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Her Royal Highness Elena de Borbón, Infanta of Spain, all attended in honour of the championships and to get the FEI World Championships Aachen 2026 off to a truly royal start.
World Champions from the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games, including the dressage queen, Isabell Werth; the jumping champion, Jos Lansink, and the driving legend, Michael Freund all attended and Australia’s flag bearer Andrew Hoy, who won team bronze here in 2006 and is competing as part of the Australian team again this year recited the athletes’ oath on behalf of all competitors.
It had already been a good day for Australia, with Simone Pearce riding Will Marq holding fourth place (72.39) after the first session for the FEI Dressage World Championship Team Final & Individual Qualifier.
“This time last year he was living on an island in Spain, so this is very different for him!” said a delighted Simone of the 10-year-old that was bred on the island of Menorca “I had hoped that we could produce a score like this and I thought we might have some hiccups – in the end it turned out to be the sort of mistakes we don’t usually have – but when I saw the score, I was so happy. It’s so nice because he’s such a positive horse and I’m super proud of him”
But on Wednesday it all starts in earnest for us with full subscriber-only coverage of the eventing each day. Check back for our articles, photo galleries and more!
