Aug 21, 2026 5 min read Eventing

Laura Collett Completes a Championship Record Unlike Any Other

More than 20 years after winning her first international medals, Laura Collett has completed a record that stretches across every stage of championship eventing.

According to analysis published by EquiRatings, Collett is the first event rider to have won both team and individual medals at Pony, Junior and Young Rider European Championships, before achieving the same distinction across the three major senior championships: the European Championships, Olympic Games and World Championships.

The final two medals required to complete that record came at the 2026 FEI Eventing World Championship in Aachen, where Collett and London 52 helped Great Britain secure team gold before taking individual bronze.

It is a milestone built not from one championship or one season, but across more than two decades, several horses and every level of the international pathway.

Completing the record in Aachen

Great Britain led the 2026 World Championship team competition from the opening day and finished on a score of 84.0. According to the FEI, it was the lowest team score ever recorded at a senior global championship.

Germany claimed team silver, with the United States taking bronze.

In the individual competition, Germany’s Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH won gold. Britain’s Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo secured silver, while Collett and London 52 completed the podium in bronze position.

Those results gave Collett her first World Championship team and individual medals. They also completed a collection that began when she was competing on ponies.

From ponies to the senior stage

Collett’s international championship career began in 2005 when she represented Great Britain at the Pony European Championships with Noble Springbok.

The combination returned with team gold and individual bronze. It was an early indication of the career that would follow, but few could have predicted that the same rider would still be collecting championship medals at the highest level more than 20 years later.

In 2006, Collett progressed to the Junior European Championships with Fernhill Sox, winning individual gold and team silver. One year later, she and Rayef secured both team and individual junior gold.

Rayef remained an important part of her development. In 2009, the partnership won team and individual gold at the Young Rider European Championships. Collett added another young rider team gold in 2010 with Fernhill Cristal.

By that point, she had won team and individual medals at each of the three youth championship levels. The transition to senior competition, however, would bring a new set of challenges.

Progress at the highest level was not immediate or straightforward. There were disappointments, eliminations and championship campaigns that did not produce the results Collett had hoped for.

In 2013, she also survived a life-threatening cross-country fall. She spent six days in an induced coma after sustaining serious injuries. Her return to competition was significant, but what followed was more than a comeback story. Collett rebuilt a career capable of delivering sustained success at the highest level of the sport.

The partnership that changed everything

London 52 became the horse with whom Collett converted years of experience into senior championship medals.

At the delayed Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, the pair helped Great Britain win its first Olympic eventing team gold in 49 years.

They successfully defended that title at Paris 2024 alongside Ros Canter and Tom McEwen. Collett and London 52 also secured individual bronze after setting a new Olympic eventing dressage record of 17.5 penalties.

Their European Championship record developed alongside their Olympic success. In 2023, they contributed to Great Britain’s team gold at Haras du Pin.

At Blenheim Palace in 2025, Collett and London 52 won the senior European individual title. British Equestrian reported that the victory brought Collett’s total to nine European Championship gold medals across Pony, Junior, Young Rider and Senior level.

Aachen then supplied the final part of the record. Team gold and individual bronze at the World Championships meant that Collett had secured both forms of medal at every youth championship level and at each of the sport’s three principal senior championships.

London 52 has been responsible for every senior medal in that record.

The 17-year-old gelding has now carried Collett to team gold at the Olympic Games, European Championships and World Championships. Together, they have also won individual medals at all three, including European gold and Olympic and World bronze.

A career measured through consistency

The scale of Collett’s achievement is best understood through its longevity.

Her first medals came with Noble Springbok in 2005. Fernhill Sox, Rayef and Fernhill Cristal carried her through the junior and young rider stages. London 52 brought the journey to its highest point.

Behind those results are years of producing horses, earning selection, adapting to different partnerships and returning to compete after both professional and personal setbacks.

Team medals also reflect something individual results cannot fully show. They require riders to perform not only for themselves, but within a national structure where every score can affect the final outcome.

To have collected both team and individual medals at every stage demonstrates two different forms of sporting consistency: the ability to contribute when a team result is at stake and the ability to produce an individual podium performance under the same championship pressure.

Why this record matters

Women and men compete directly against one another in all equine events. That makes Collett’s record particularly important within the wider story of women in sport.

This is not a separate women’s title or a record created within a restricted category. It is an achievement across the complete international eventing pathway and against the full field of competitors.

Visibility matters because sporting careers are rarely built in a straight line. Young riders need to see not only the final medal ceremony, but the years of development, setbacks, changing horses and continued work that make those moments possible.

Collett’s career provides that example.

Her record began with a pony championship medal and developed through every stage available to an international event rider. More than two decades later, she has completed a collection that no rider before her had achieved.

It is a story of talent, longevity and opportunity, supported by a succession of exceptional horses and the teams responsible for their care.

Most importantly, it shows what can be achieved when a female athlete is given the platform, support and time required to build a complete sporting career.

Laura Collett has not simply reached the highest level of eventing. She has left a medal record across every stage of the journey.