US 2026 Dressage Grand Prix Championship to be Standalone Event in Spring, Separate from Festival of Champions
3 weeks ago StraightArrow Comments Off on US 2026 Dressage Grand Prix Championship to be Standalone Event in Spring, Separate from Festival of Champions
April 29, 2025
The US dressage Grand Prix championship in 2026 will be held as a standalone event in spring and separate from the traditional mid-summer Festival of Champions to prepare for the World Championships.
The Grand Prix championship has typically been part of the annual championships that are a conglomeration of all levels of the discipline and held in summer that often conflicts with the top rider and horse combinations competing in Europe after months of intense winter circuits in Florida and California.
“We see shifting the Grand Prix Championship to earlier in the year as an opportunity to foster competition amongst our U.S. athletes in the lead up to our European tour ahead of next year’s FEI Dressage World Championships,” said Laura Roberts, US Equestrian Managing Director of Dressage. “This championship also has the potential to play a key role in our development towards the podium for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.”
The 2026 World Championships will be held Aug. 11-15 in Aachen, Germany, the most prestigious and competitive annual event anywhere and the premier destination for U.S. competitors in dressage and jumping.
The change for the Grand Prix championship as an official observation event for the World Championships was reported by US Equestrian in seeking bids to host the competition.
However, the 2026 World Championship will not directly impact the United States for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as the host nation is automatically provided a start.
American high performance dressage is in the midst of rebuilding following the retirement of the horses that were on teams that earned historic silver medals at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon in 2018 and the Tokyo Olympics.
