VAULTING
Aachen, Germany – At the end of the first day of the compulsory rounds in Vaulting at the FEI World Championships in Aachen, Canada sits with two top-five scores, from two of our most experienced team members. Averill Saunders (Sundre, AB) currently sits in third in the Individual Female competition, and Talmage Conrad (Lethbridge, AB) sits in fifth in the Individual Men’s competition.
A polished performance from Saunders, currently ranked 13th in the FEI women’s world rankings for vaulting, earned her 8.291 to sit third in a field of 46 competitors. Canada’s Charlotte Axani sits in 25th with 7.091, while Megan Leeper is 31st on 6.855. Averill’s horse is Bold Statement, a 17-year-old gelding, lunged by Rob de Bruin and groomed by Remi Jérôme Vanlerberghe.
Saunders, 22, said that while her warm-up was not up to its usual standard, she was relieved to go into the competition ring and deliver the performance she has trained for. She said that she has put a lot of time into perfecting the mount and was particularly pleased with the mount exercise.
“It’s biomechanically much easier to for men to perform a good mount onto the horse than for girls, so it can be quite an accomplishment to have a good mount as a girl. It’s become something I’ve poured a lot of time into. Getting an exercise right is one thing but being able to perform and deliver in this kind of atmosphere is really special.”
This will be an emotional week for Saunders, as she has decided it will be her last World Championship as an individual vaulter. Saunders, who began vaulting at the age of nine, had already represented Canada internationally for seven years when selected for the 2022 senior World Championships. In 2023 she made Canadian history by winning silver in the Individual Female Young Vaulter division at the FEI World Championships in Flyinge — Canada’s first vaulting medal at a World Championship.
Vaulting has been Saunders primary focus for the past 13 years. She has accomplished many of the goals she had set out, and is looking forward to moving on to other roles within the sport. She is currently running for election to be the athlete representative on the Vaulting Technical Committee of the FEI, and over the past few years, has become a vaulting judge in Canada and is on the way to becoming an FEI judge as well.
Charlotte Axani, (Grande Prairie, AB), sits in 25th on a score of 7.091 with Lightning Jack, a 19-year-old bay Holsteiner gelding by Landos out of a Calato mare. Lightning Jack is owned Thordis Thormählen and bred by Christel Marxsen. Thormählen also served as Lunger, and the horse is groomed by Verena Chemnitz.
Megan Leeper (Strathmore, AB) scored 6.855 to sit in 31st position with Zorro, a 13-year-old black gelding owned by Angelique Vick and Jeanine van der Sluijs.
Leeper is competing in both the Individual and Pas de Deux and is fortunate to have been able to bring her own horse ‘across the pond’ for the World Championships. “We had a fundraiser at home to raise the money to bring Zorro with us. He’s probably the most ‘chill’ horse you’d ever meet. It’s such an advantage to work with your own horse, with whom you have an existing relationship, at such an important event.”
Leeper will compete in the Pas de Deux with Katherine Van Den Bosch, (Olds, AB), the youngest athlete on the Canadian Team here in Aachen at 17.
Talmage Conrad (Lethbridge, AB) is the only Canadian competitor in the male vaulting competition. with San Felice Z, a 16-year-old Zangersheide gelding owned by RVV Equus e.V. They currently sit in 5th on a score of 8.192. His lunger is Christina Ender and San Felize Z is groomed by Laura Peters.
Conrad is Canada’s leading male international vaulter and a multiple World Championship competitor. He made history in 2019 as the first Canadian male athlete to compete at the FEI Junior Vaulting World Championships and earned Canada’s first top-10 placing at that championship. He has since represented Canada at senior World Championships in Herning and Bern and entered the Aachen season among the leading athletes in the FEI Vaulting World Cup standings.
“I try not to let any feelings of worry in,” remarked Conrad after his round. “This morning I was nervous about just getting out there, but I felt fairly confident in the week leading up to this and have really been focused on pointing my toes!
“I’m looking forward to the (second phase) Technical test, it’s my favorite round. I feel the best and have the most fun; I’m looking forward to landing that dismount and feeling those feelings of success.”
Vaulting Chef d’Équipe Jessica Bentzen said: “Our vaulting team came out strong today, showing great performances and wonderful harmony with their equine partners in this amazing arena. Both Averill and Talmage have been on the world stage for years, representing Canada through juniors, young and now senior world championships. We cannot wait to see what they come out with next!
“Overall Team Canada is very happy with how all our athletes and horses performed today and where we are sitting on the world stage. We posted some personal best scores in our compulsory event today. I think it really reflects how much Canada has been prioritizing development of Officials and Coaching in our country. Thank you to the FEI Solidarity for working so hard with us on this over the past few years.”
The Compulsory and Technical tests form the first round of the championship. The individual competition continues Friday with the Technical Test. The top 15 qualify for the Free Test competition taking place Saturday.
EVENTING
Canada’s sole eventing entry here in Aachen, Jessica Phoenix (Cannington, ON) is one of the most accomplished Canadian eventing athletes of her generation. She has made three Olympic appearances, three FEI World Equestrian Games appearances and four Pan American Games appearances, bringing home five PAG medals to date.
Thursday afternoon in Aachen, Phoenix and Fluorescent Adolescent (or ‘Lacey’ at home), posted a new personal best score of 35.1 penalties at the CCI5* level. Owned by Sharon Hall and Makayla Rydzik, Lacey is an 18-year-old piebald Canadian Sport Horse mare by Gaudi and was bred by Canadian Olympians Kelly Plitz and Ian Roberts.
“Lacey went into the arena and was all business, and I was incredibly pleased with that,” said Phoenix. “I’m very proud of how confident and relaxed she was. We really enjoyed it. This is one of her best scores ever, and was one of our best tests ever.”
Looking forward to Saturday’s exciting cross-country phase of the three-phase event, Phoenix said: “The cross-country course looks intense. I’ve done a lot of World Equestrian Games and the way they’ve designed this course – the questions they’ve asked and the turns they’re asking the questions on – will be a real game changer. (Lacey) is so fast, she’s so efficient over the ground and she loves tight turns. This is really a well-suited course for her and I can’t wait to get out there on Saturday.”
Technical Advisor and Chef d’Équipe for Eventing, Rebecca Howard said: “It was a really positive start for Jessica and Fluorescent Adolescent here in Aachen. To produce a personal best of 35.1 in the dressage arena on this stage, at a World Championship, is something they should be very proud of. They’ve worked hard to improve the quality and execution in this phase, and today we saw that work paying off, particularly in the trot work, but throughout the entire test. There were many improvements, giving them a solid platform heading into the rest of the competition. Our objective coming into Aachen was to help Jessica and Fluorescent Adolescent produce their personal best performance, and today was a great step in that direction.”
Meet the Team! Jessica Phoenix.
DRESSAGE
Brittany Fraser Beaulieu (Saint Bruno, QC) and Jaccardo, owned by Jill Irving, will be the only Canadian combination to compete in the Grand Prix Special on Friday, August 14. Based on veterinary and meteorological advice, the organizers have made the decision to adjust the start times for the dressage in the main arena on Friday to start earlier and end later, with a substantial pause in competition at the hottest part of the day. In addition, enhanced heat mitigation measures will be in place throughout the venue.
Team Canada What to Watch!
Friday, August 14
VAULTING – Stadium 3
Women’s Individual Technical Test
09:50 Megan Leeper & Zorro Angelique Vick (Lunger)
10:15 Charlotte Axani & Lightning Jack 12 Thordis Thormahlen (Lunger)
12:20 Averill Saunders & Bold Statement Rob de Bruin (Lunger)
Men’s Individual Technical Test
18:15 Talmage Conrad & San Felice Z Christina Ender (Lunger)
Pas De Deux
19:18 Katelyn Foss & Jacynda Row Gozer Christina Ender (Lunger)
19:48 Megan Leeper & Katherine Van Den Bosch Zorro Angelique Vick (Lunger)
DRESSAGE – Main Arena
Grand Prix Special
Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu & Jaccardo 09:58
About the FEI World Championships Aachen 2026
Aachen is continuing its tradition of hosting numerous World and European Championships: Following the FEI World Equestrian Games 2006 and the European Championships 2015, the FEI World Championships Aachen 2026 will once again be one of the biggest equestrian sport events of the coming years.
The World Championships will host six disciplines: Jumping, Dressage, Eventing, Para Dressage, Driving and Vaulting.
Participants and horses:
Overall: 879 from just under 70 nations
Participants FEI World Championships: 814 with 814 horses
Participants in the youth competitions: 65 with 65 horses
Additional horses for the Opening Ceremony: 250