Two gold medals for Justin Verboomen at the European Dressage Championships
By winning the Grand Prix Special and the Freestyle, Justin Verboomen became the first Belgian to win the European Dressage Championship title.
The European Dressage Championships have just taken place in the lush French village of Crozet, in the department of Ain. It was a fairytale event for Belgian Justin Verboomen.
However, the 37-year-old from Wauthier-Braine and his nine-year-old stallion Zonik Plus did not join the world's dressage elite until December 2024. After winning the World Cup Grand Prix in Mechelen and then the GP Special at the most prestigious event of the season, the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, this dressage rider has now reached new heights in his meteoric rise.
Not only did he become the first Belgian to win a European Championship Grand Prix Special, he also won the Freestyle event to be crowned individual European Champion ahead of Denmark's Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Germany's Isabell Werth, the queen of the discipline with seven Olympic medals to her name.
Deeply moved when he received his trophy, the Brabant native emphasised above all the merits of his horse, "Event after event, he's able to listen to everything I ask of him. This horse has exceptional qualities."
Justin Verboomen has great ambitions for his future career. Specialists agree that, at his young age, his stallion still has plenty of room for improvement.
Congratulations to this Belgian rider (and his stallion) on his first European title!