Nick Skelton and Ben Maher head to Rio to compete for €1m

British Olympic gold medallists Nick Skelton and Ben Maher are heading to Rio de Janeiro next week to compete for more than €1m.

The showjumpers will be taking part in the OI Athina Onassis Horse Show in Brazil.

The show, which runs from 4-6 October, clashes with Horse of the Year Show, where fellow gold medalists Scott Brash and Peter Charles will be riding.

Other showjumpers invited to compete in Rio include Steve Guerdat (Switzerland), Gerco Schroeder (Netherlands), Rodrigo Pessoa, Alvaro De Miranda [host of the competition], Luiz Francisco de Azevedo, Jose Roberto Reynoso Filho and Carlos Ribas (Brazil), Ludger Beerbaum, Marco Kutscher, Philipp Weishaupt Henrik von Eckermann, Marcus Ehning, Christian Ahlmann and Hans-Dieter Dreher (Germany), Kevin Staut and Penelope Leprevost (France), Laura Kraut and Jessica Springsteen (USA), Denis Lynch (Ireland) and Edwina Tops-Alexander (Australia).

The riders will be competing for a total of €1,300,000 in prize money. There will also be a “Nation Challenge” in which 10 teams compete against each other.

The competition will be aired on Eurosport on 6 October.

For more information visit: www.oiaohs.com

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now