Why Aachen 2026 Might Be the Greatest Event Ever

Aachen has the strongest eventing field ever recorded. The 88 combinations named for the FEI Eventing World Championship carry an Elo Field Strength of 753, which is 23 points clear of Pratoni 2022 and 33 clear of the Paris Olympics.

Every Olympic Games on record sits below it. So does every World Championship, every European Championship and every five-star. The record is not being edged. It is being taken by a distance.

Here is where Aachen sits against every championship and five-star since records began.

Elo Field Strength records begin in 2015. Aachen 2026 calculated from the definite entries.

Championships own this list. Seven of the eleven strongest fields on record are Olympics, Worlds or Europeans, and the reason is structural. A five-star takes whoever enters. A championship takes the best three or four horses each nation can put on a plane.

Aachen pulls a field in any year. The 2023 CCI4*-S here rated 704, level with the Tokyo Olympics. Badminton 2025 at 719 remains the strongest five-star ever assembled.

These are the top 25 Elos in the Aachen field. Their average is the 753.

# Horse & rider Elo 1 fischerChipmunk FRH Michael Jung 932 2 Lordships Graffalo Ros Canter 919 3 JL Dublin Tom McEwen 885 4 London 52 Laura Collett 852 5 Colorado Blue Austin O'Connor 814 6 Uelzener's Nickel Julia Krajewski 782 7 Carlitos Quidditch K Malin Hansen-Hotopp 775 8 Zaragoza Gaspard Maksud 768 9 Flash Cooley Gemma Stevens 748 10 Vassily de Lassos Andrew Hoy 747 11 HSH Blake Caroline Pamukcu 740 12 D. Day Caroline Harris 737 13 Diabolo Menthe Nicolas Touzaint 736

# Horse & rider Elo 14 Diabolo Will Coleman 728 15 Box Leo Frida Andersen 719 16 Rocket Man Clarke Johnstone 719 17 Falco Tim Price 714 18 Artist Monica Spencer 710 19 Caspian 15 Louise Romeike 703 20 Cooley Nutcracker Boyd Martin 702 21 Kiarado d'Arville Lara de Liedekerke-Meier 702 22 Alertamalib'or Astier Nicolas 686 23 Grandeur de Lully CH Robin Godel 673 24 Feroza Nieuwmoed Ryuzo Kitajima 667 25 MGH Zabaione Padraig McCarthy 665 Average of the 25 753

Elo as of the definite entries for Aachen 2026.

Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH head the field (& the world) on 932. The 18-year-old has been on German teams since Tryon 2018, won Kentucky in 2022 and 2025, took Olympic gold in Paris and was runner-up at the Blenheim Europeans last year. He has been at the top of the sport for eight seasons and the rating reflects all of it.

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo sit 13 points behind on 919. In May they became the first combination to win Badminton three times, and the horse Canter calls Walter has now added two Burghleys, double European gold and an Olympic team gold. At only fourteen, Walter has a serious chance of becoming the highest-rated horse ever recorded.

Five horses rate 800 or better. Twenty-one of the top 25 rate 700 or better. Eleven nations put a horse into the top 25, with Britain supplying five and Germany, France, New Zealand and the USA three each. The number is high because the quality runs deep, not because three superstars turned up.

One caveat travels with every all-time claim in Elo. The rating was applied to eventing from a standing start, with every horse treated as a neutral performer, so ratings take years to mature. Horses whose best work came early in the record were beating opponents who were themselves underrated. That is Eloflation, and it makes the oldest competitions on the list look weaker than they were.

Badminton 2017 at 703 and Rio 2016 at 716 are the fields with the strongest case for being sold short. The effect shrinks every year, and it does not explain a 23-point gap over Pratoni 2022 or 33 over Paris. Against the modern record, where the ratings are mature, Aachen is clear on the numbers and clear by a distance.

Aachen is a home championship for the best team in the world. Germany are the defending World and European champions and three of the squad that took the title at Pratoni are back. Britain have named the Paris gold medal trio of Canter, Collett and McEwen. New Zealand return three of the group that took bronze in 2022. The USA bring the Kentucky winner. There are eight five-star winners arriving. The field is extremely deep.

There is a second reason nobody left a good horse at home. Seven team quota places for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games are decided here, more than at any other single qualifier in the cycle. A championship medal is the prize on Sunday. A nation's next Olympic cycle is the prize behind it.

Dressage runs Thursday and Friday, cross-country is on Saturday and the medals are decided in the show jumping on Sunday afternoon.

The entry list already holds a record. Sunday will tell us who gains the title.