New Zealand’s eventing riders have booked a team place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after finishing sixth at the world championships in Aachen, Germany, salvaging the one result that mattered from a week that began with genuine medal hope.
Seven team quota places for Los Angeles were on offer at the championship, and because the United States are already qualified as hosts, the New Zealand squad needed to hold a top-eight finish to be sure of one. They sat fourth after the dressage, slipped to eighth after a punishing cross-country day, and climbed back to sixth on the final day as rails fell elsewhere.
Great Britain won the team title on 84.0 penalties, well clear of Germany on 95.6, with the United States taking bronze on 113.5. Ireland were fourth and Switzerland fifth, ahead of New Zealand’s 145.4. Horse Sport reported that the British side led from the opening day and never let go.
Equestrian Sports New Zealand high performance general manager Jock Paget told RNZ the team were disappointed to miss a medal but knew the qualification was the box that had to be ticked.
“We had a nightmare start to cross country day when we lost our first horse so were on the back foot after that and we just had to adjust,” Paget said. “It was clear medals were off the table and we had to shift to prioritise the Olympic qualification.”
That first horse was Rocket Man, ridden by Clarke Johnstone. The pair had been twelfth after a polished dressage test but were pulled up on the cross-country after fence 11 when the horse showed blood in the nose. The elimination left New Zealand with no margin for error, since every remaining score had to count.
“Unfortunately things didn’t go to plan at all today,” Johnstone said in a report published by Equestrian Sports New Zealand. “After a brilliant start where Rocco was jumping so, so well and feeling fantastic, we were pulled up after number 11 with some blood in the nose and couldn’t continue.” The horse was reported to be fine and settled back in his stable afterwards.
The second blow followed almost immediately. Jonelle Price and Senor Crocodillo, ninth after the dressage, were held on course for close to eight minutes while officials dealt with an incident ahead of them, then had a refusal at the second to last fence.
“He was giving me a lovely ride and we had knocked off a fair chunk of the work,” Price said. “It was really unfortunate to be held. The horse has never been held before. I really think he thought he had run his race and that was that. We managed to get back up and running eventually but he was a little bit laboured thereafter and lacked a bit of focus which showed.”
From there the plan for the last two team riders was simple enough. Go fast, but take nothing on. Both did exactly that.
Monica Spencer and Artist were the standouts of the day for New Zealand, adding only 4.8 time penalties to sit thirteenth overnight. “It felt very busy out there but Max was a good boy,” Spencer said of her horse. “The plan was first and foremost clear and to go as fast as I could go without taking any risks. I was very deliberate out there.”
Tim Price, the world number one, went clear on Falco for 8.4 time penalties. “The course was really challenging but he was just mega,” Price said. “He was jumping, looking, wanting to go. If he is having fun, my job is easy.”
The Giuseppe Della Chiesa course was one of the most influential in recent championship history. Of 87 starters, only six beat the optimum time and 19 failed to complete, with Great Britain, Switzerland, the United States and France all reduced to three riders early in the day.
Sunday’s jumping finale reshuffled the placings again. Tim Price jumped clear to finish 21st on 42.1 penalties, the best of the New Zealanders. Spencer dropped three rails and slid to 26th on 45.7, while Jonelle Price was clear for 39th on 57.6. Samantha Lissington, competing as an individual on the young horse Lucas Stone, finished 40th on 60.1 after a single rail.
Germany’s Michael Jung won individual gold on the 18-year-old fischerChipmunk FRH, finishing on his dressage score of 23.0 with the Paris Olympic champion pairing under heavy pressure in the final round. Ros Canter took silver on 23.4 with Lordships Graffalo and Laura Collett bronze on 28.0 with London 52, both riding for Britain.
The New Zealand result will read as a disappointment against the expectations set before the championship. All four riders from the team that won bronze at Pratoni in 2022 were back, Tim Price arrived as the top-ranked eventer in the world, and the same squad had won the team competition at Aachen’s annual show in 2025 with Price taking the individual honours as well.
What they leave Germany with instead is a guaranteed team start in Los Angeles, which is not nothing. Olympic eventing teams are three riders strong with every score counting, so qualification gives the selectors two full seasons to build depth around horses like Lucas Stone, who Lissington has openly earmarked for 2028.
“For this little horse we have LA in mind,” she said after the cross-country. “I felt for such a young horse he really answered everything I asked of him.”
Full results from the championship are published on the official Aachen 2026 results site.
What did you make of the New Zealand team’s week in Aachen, and who should be in the frame for Los Angeles? Leave a comment below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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