Aachen, which in 2006 produced the most successful of the FEI World Equestrian Games™, has put in a bid to host every world championship but endurance in 2026.
Just as it does with its annual show, the German venue wants to present Jumping, Dressage Para-Dressage, Eventing, Four-in-Hand Driving and Vaulting.
Aachen offered a dramatic setting at its 2006 WEG.( Photo © 2006 by Nancy Jaffer)
The only other bidders for 2026 world championships are Burghley in Great Britain and the Netherlands’ Boekelo, both of which want only Eventing. Al Ula, Saudi Arabia and Samorin, Slovakia, are asking for Endurance.
The decision will be made in November at the FEI’s general assembly in Mexico City.
After three decades of the WEG, which began in 1990 and ran every four years through 2018, the FEI began accepting single and multiple World Championship bids, as opposed to seeking a WEG. Putting on a WEG is enormously expensive, so having just a few related competitions was the way to go for the 2022 world championships.
Herning, Denmark held Jumping, Dressage, Para Dressage, and Vaulting, while Eventing and Driving were at Pratoni Del Vivaro, Italy, which also hosted those disciplines during the 1998 WEG based in Rome.
“We are very pleased with the variety of bids we have received,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said.
“Following the outstanding FEI World Championships 2022 organized in Denmark, Italy and the UAE (which ran the endurance), we are confident this flexible approach with single and multiple bids serves not only the sport, but also the fans and the development of equestrian around the world, allowing different nations and venues to bid to host a major FEI event.”
The FEI World Championships 2026 in Jumping, Dressage, Para Dressage and Eventing will be the first qualifying events for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The inaugural FEI World Equestrian Games™ were held in Stockholm with the 1912 Olympic stadium as the main venue. On the initiative of the then-FEI President HRH Prince Philip, the World Championships in all the FEI disciplines were held in the same city from July 14 to August 5, 1990. Given the smooth organization and success of these Games, what should have been a one-off event, was extended and seven more editions took place in the Hague (Netherlands) in 1994, Rome in 1998, Jerez de la Frontera Spain, in 2002, Aachen in 2006, Lexington, Ky., in 2010, Normandy, France, in 2014, and Tryon, N.C. in 2018.
The opening ceremonies of the 2006 FEI Aachen World Equestrian Games were memorable. (Photo © 2006 by Nancy Jaffer)
Dressage is the FEI discipline with the longest tradition of championships. A Grand Prix de Dressage, organized in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1927, drew 12 riders representing five nations.
Official FEI Dressage Championships were organized on all non-Olympic years between 1930 and 1939 in Switzerland, France, Austria, Hungary, Germany, and Great Britain. The last such event took place in August 1939, days before the outbreak of World War II.
The FEI tried to revive the event after the war with limited success. Participation gradually improved and European Championships were organized in 1963, which led to the first FEI Dressage World Championship held in Bern, Switzerland, three years later.
The first Para-Dressage Championship, which took place under the leadership of the FEI, was held in July 2007, only a year after Para Equestrian came under the FEI umbrella. The event enjoyed a truly international representation gathering 133 athletes from 35 nations. Since 2010, FEI Dressage and Para Dressage Championships are being held concurrently.
The first FEI Jumping World Championship was in June 1953 at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. The event was drastically different from its modern equivalent, as only 19 athletes from 11 countries, including Yugoslavia, Cambodia and the USA, competed. No women took part, since female riders would not be able to enter jumping competitions until 1956.
The first FEI Eventing World Championship was in 1966, the same year as the first FEI Dressage World Championship, at the estate of Lord Burghley in Great Britain. The championship included 39 athletes representing five nations: Argentina, Great Britain, Ireland, USA and the USSR.
The previous year, the FEI had established the configuration according to which World Championships in the Olympic discipline of Jumping were held every four years in the non-Olympic even years and continental championships were organized in the odd years. This pattern is still in use today for all the FEI Olympic and Paralympic disciplines.
The first edition of the FEI Driving World Championship for Four-in-Hands was held in 1972 in Münster, Germany, two years after Driving had become an FEI discipline.
Endurance became an FEI discipline in 1982, one year before Vaulting. The championship histories of these two non-Olympic disciplines have run parallel from the start with World Championships organized every other year on even years.
In 1983, one year after Driving, Vaulting also joined the FEI. In 1984 the first FEI Vaulting European Championship was followed by another European edition in 1985. This second European edition was open to the rest of the world. A strong showing from the USA convinced the FEI the time had come for a World Championship. The first FEI Vaulting World Championship took place in in the Swiss town of Bulle in 1986.
