Aachen Legends Reunion: Who's Back for the 2026 Worlds

Aachen last carried a World Championship in 2006, when the Soers hosted the first World Equestrian Games to bring every FEI discipline under one roof. Twenty years on, the FEI World Championships return to the same showground from 11 to 23 August 2026, with jumping running from the 16th through the closing weekend.

Thirteen riders who jumped at that 2006 Aachen WEG are on this year's lists too. New horses, new decades of mileage, same grass arena. Here is who they were then, and what the Elo model says about who they are now.

Aachen, 2006: who rode what

The 2006 team jumping title went to the Netherlands, with Laura Kraut and Mclain Ward part of the USA squad that took silver, and Marcus Ehning part of the German team that took bronze. Luciana Diniz was already establishing herself as one of the sport's most durable championship starters aboard Dover. Twenty years is a long time in any sport built around a horse's career, and the list below is a reminder of how completely the string turns over even for riders who stay at the top.

2026: the same 13, two decades of mileage later

Top horses typically turn over every five to ten years, so each rider enters with a different championship partnership. Below, the 13 returning riders are sorted by current Elo of their 2026 championship horse, from strongest to weakest at major championship level, along with career wins for their current combination.

Kraut and Ward, twice over

Laura Kraut and Mclain Ward are the two riders in this group already confirmed for Aachen 2026, both named to the Icon Global U.S. Jumping Team, Kraut on Bisquetta and Ward on High Star Hero. In 2006 they were teammates on the USA squad that took team silver behind the Netherlands, Ward with Sapphire and Kraut with Miss Independent. Twenty years later they carry the two highest Elo ratings in this entire group returning, 765 for Kraut and 732 for Ward, with two career wins apiece on their current horse.

Ehning, the home name

Marcus Ehning was part of the German team that took bronze at the 2006 Aachen WEG, jumping Noltes Küchengirl, and returns twenty years later on Coolio 42. His Elo of 732 matches Ward for the joint third-highest mark in the group, and his current combination has already banked two wins, tied for the most of anyone on this list. Aachen has been Ehning's stage for over two decades, and a home crowd watching him arrive in this kind of form is the sport's most reliable storyline.

Diniz, still going

Luciana Diniz was on Dover in 2006. Twenty years and multiple mounts later she is one of only two riders in this group, alongside Tops-Alexander, with more than 30 rounds logged at major championship level in the current data, a marker of just how long she has kept a horse in this bracket of the sport. Her current combination, Vertigo du Desert, carries a top-tier Elo of 754 and one career win, but a clear rate of just 21% at that level, a reminder that a horse's rating and its most recent form do not always point the same direction.

Alsharbatly, small sample, sharp number

Abdullah Alsharbatly rode Hugo Gesmeray at Aachen in 2006. On Diriyah he now carries the best clear rate in this entire group at 80%, with a win already on the board together, though it comes from only five rounds, so it is a small sample rather than a settled trend.

Twenty years separate the two Aachens on the calendar. The names on this list are the throughline. The horses have changed, and so has the story they'll write.