Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo were the anchormen for the British team and smoothly secured the overnight team lead in Aachen, as we review the eventing World Championships cross-country results.
They go forward on their dressage score of 23.4, moving up from fourth to the silver-medal position.
“I’m quite relieved to be honest,” said Ros. “It’s been a long wait today, and it’s a very intense track to ride. The Badmintons and Burghleys feel a bit easier for ‘Walter’ because you can cruise along in between, whereas today you have to go so fast in between, and there doesn’t seem to be any space.”
After watching her team-mate Tom McEwen take a long route late on the course, Ros admitted to a moment of self-doubt.
“I was tempted coming out of the last water to go long, as he felt a bit strung out, but I thought, ‘for goodness’ sake, you haven’t come to the World Championships to wimp out of it. So get on with it because you know you’re on a good horse.’ I’m really pleased I made that decision.”
“I thought, for goodness’ sake, you don’t come to a World Championships to wimp out”
Ros Canter
Ros now sits just 0.4 of a penalty behind Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH, who grabbed the lead from third after dressage also with a faultless clear. His compatriot and dressage leader Julia Krajewski (Uelzener’s Nickel) dropped down to 20th with time-faults.
“Chipmunk is an unbelievable horse, he has such a good stride, he’s so powerful, and it feels like he knows every jump,” said Michael. “He’s done all the big competitions, all the championships, he has so much experience, and was very good at listening to me today.
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“At the end when I needed to fight for the time, he was really fighting and galloping.”
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
Just six pairs of the 85 starters jumped clear inside the 9min50 optimum time. Ros and Walter have an impeccable record of making tough times look easy, and today at Aachen was no different.
“What a horse! I’m just incredibly lucky. Walter is out of this world. I’ve been a little bit out of match practice this year – this is only my second three-day event this year,” said Ros, who gave birth to her second child just before the start of the season.
“I haven’t ridden many other horses [this year], so I was watching videos of myself at Badminton earlier to try to remind myself how fast I needed to go.
“But as soon as I got on Walter, I felt much more comfortable. He was amazing as usual.”
Team GB into the lead after the Cross-Country | FEI Eventing World Championship 2026 - YouTube
Business “as usual” was exactly right. But to say it was an uneventful round belittles the achievement – the pair were wonderfully smooth, with pinpoint accuracy as they galloped from fence to fence.
The biggest factor was simply the pressure Ros was under to deliver a clear as her score had to count, after team pathfinder Gemma Stevens’ uncharacteristic elimination on Flash Cooley earlier in the day.
British team results on the World Championships cross-country
Tom McEwen and JL Dublin put Britain back in the running with a fast clear to move up a place to fourth, adding just two time-faults.
“Dubs for me was brilliant,” said Tom. “I let him set sail, never felt like I was rushing and tried to leave enough petrol in the tank, hoping I was feeling enough to go the direct way in the corner combination near the end, but I made a quick decision and sped as quickly as I could round the long route [fence 24], which is clearly much safer.”
As third team rider, Laura Collett boosted Britain’s hopes with a clear just a whisker outside the time on London 52. They head into showjumping in bronze, 0.2 of a penalty behind Ros. It’s tantalisingly tough at the top – just 0.6 of a penalty covers the podium.
Meanwhile, British individual Caroline Harris also produced a clear, flying round on D.Day to stop the clock just 3sec outside the time.
Eventing World Championship cross-country results: team standings
The top six in the team standings after the World Championships cross-country
1. Britain 75.6 2. Germany 90.4 3. Switzerland 106.5 4. Ireland 110.1 5. US 112.3 6. France 113.9
This means Britain have three fences in hand over Germany, with seven poles covering the podium.
Eventing World Championship cross-country results: individual standings
The top six individual standings are:
1. Michael Jung / fischerChipmunk FRH (GER) 23 2. Ros Canter / Lordships Graffalo (GBR) 23.4 3. Laura Collett / London 52 (GBR) 23.6 4. Tom McEwen / JL Dublin (GBR0 28.6 5. Christoph Wahler / D’Accord FRH (GER) 29.4 6. William Coleman / Diabolo (US) 30
Follow the final trot-up with Horse & Hound
Horse & Hound’slive reports service will be covering the final horse inspection from 8.30am (UK time) on Sunday 16 August, so make sure you join us to stay abreast of the latest developments, followed by the showjumping phase, which begins at 12noon (UK time).
Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
