Laura Collett and London 52 (picture top) have helped put Great Britain in pole position after a compelling two days of dressage at the eventing World Championships in Aachen, Germany, with the British team holding a narrow advantage over Germany ahead of Saturday’s cross-country.

Laura and the 17-year-old gelding produced a 22.8 test to sit second individually behind Germany’s Julia Krajewski, while Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo added a 23.4 to strengthen Britain’s position at the head of the team leaderboard – they sit fourth individually. Tom McEwen’s 26.6 with JL Dublin completed the counting scores with them sitting fifth individually, leaving Britain on 72.8 penalties, just 0.8 ahead of Germany. France is third on 84.5, followed by New Zealand on 84.8 and Switzerland on 90.9.

For Laura, the performance was another polished display from the remarkable London 52, who she owns alongside Karen Bartlett and Keith Scott, although there was one small jog in the medium walk in an otherwise highly convincing test.

“I was really pleased with him. He felt really with me and on the aids,” said Laura. “He felt really relaxed until that point.”

The atmosphere of Aachen suited the hugely experienced gelding.

“He loves it here because he loves an atmosphere and he loves lots of people,” said Laura. “So he’s right at home.”

With dressage now complete, however, Laura’s attention has turned firmly towards the cross-country.

“It’s a proper championship track. I don’t think it’s going to be a dressage competition, so it’s now full focus on tomorrow,” she said.

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo at the 2026 eventing World Championships

Ros Canter then delivered exactly what Britain needed from its team anchor, guiding Lordships Graffalo to a score that leaves them just 1.6 penalties adrift of the leader. The gelding’s composure was particularly impressive given the extraordinary noise coming from the adjacent main arena where the pure dressage was concluding.

“‘Walter’ and I actually didn’t hear the roar from the crowd next door, but apparently it was fairly huge – we were just so concentrated,” said Ros.

“He is just the most amazing partner to have,” she added.

There was a costly mistake in the first flying change on the diagonal, but Ros was particularly pleased with how quickly Walter recovered.

“The changes are our trickiest thing, always have been, and I wouldn’t say they’re 100% at home at all,” she explained, saying she has to get a bouncy canter in order to get a change.

“I went for the bounce and got a walk instead. But you know what? I’m still pretty proud of the fact that he clawed it back and did the next two really well.”

Ros believes Walter’s trot has developed significantly through improved balance and strength, and suggested there is still more to come from him.

Speaking of tomorrow’s cross-country track, Ros said: “I think it’s extremely technical. It’s very different from Badminton [where they won earlier this year], which was big but not very technical, and this is only my second three-day event of the year, so we’ll definitely have to be at the top of our game.”

Germany’s Julia Krajewski ensured that the home nation has plenty to celebrate, taking the individual lead with Uelzener’s Nickel on a score of 22. Her test was really impressive with no mistakes.

“Entering a big arena, especially a championship arena, obviously you’re excited to get going and it’s a big atmosphere,” said Julia. “Just as they finished announcing me, the crowd started clapping, and I thought, ‘Guys, that’s not the best moment!’”

Nickel, however, responded beautifully.

“I think Nickel by now knows what this arena means,” said Julia. “Even though he was a bit switched on 20 metres before he went in, he really concentrated. He was really supple and with me and I could really ride.”

That leaves Germany with both the individual leader and Michael Jung in third, giving the home side a formidable hand before the jumping phases.

Michael and the extraordinary fischerChipmunk FRH scored 23, but an expensive flying-change error prevented the reigning Olympic individual champion from challenging for the lead. Michael was philosophical afterwards.

“FisherChipmunk is an amazing horse. He’s fantastic to train, to ride, every day is enjoyable,” he said. “Today we are not in the lead, but I’m still happy. We had a good test. Not everything went like we wished, but it’s not always like this.”

Explaining the costly mistake, he admitted simply: “It was not our best. I tried to push him a little bit more forward and uphill, but we lost a bit of balance and had a little bit of maybe a misunderstanding,” he said.

“I’m happy we still have a good result, and we will see. Hopefully, that was our last mistake.”

Tom McEwen is fifth with JL Dublin on 26.6, while Gemma Stevens, who is the other British team member, is 16th with Flash Cooley. Individual rider Caroline Harris and D. Day are =38th.

The cross-country gets underway tomorrow at 8.15am UK time.

Images: © Tim Wilkinson

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