The 2026 season of the prestigious professional show jumping series was supposed to begin four weeks ago in Doha, but the global political situation left no room for sporting events there. Instead, the second leg in Miami Beach on Friday (April 3) served as the season opener, with the traditional team competition taking place on the first day of competition.
The slightly modified format—where only the top 10 of the 17 teams advance to the decisive second round—produced its first winner in Madrid in Motion. Riders Maikel van der Vleuten (NED), Victor Bettendorf (LUX), and Jack Whitaker (GBR) were the only team to complete the competition without a single fault.
For the two teams featuring German riders, the day was a mix of highs and lows. While Sophie Hinners and Katrin Eckermann guided their Cannes Stars team to fourth place with a total of just two rails down, the mood in the Riesenbeck International camp was quite the opposite. After both Philipp Weishaupt and Marco Kutscher incurred two jumping faults each in the opening round, they fell victim to the new format and were eliminated before the second round even began. As a result, the team had to settle for a disappointing 14th place.
Ludger Beerbaum / Team Manager:
"A disappointing result at the opening leg in Miami—no question about that—but certainly no reason to give up the fight for improvement over the course of the long season that lies ahead.
Personally, I am convinced that we can perform much better than we did today!"
