On Sporza.be, Gilles Thomas looks ahead to the Belgian Show Jumping Championships:

From Wednesday to Saturday, Belgium’s top show jumping riders will be competing in Lanaken for the title of Belgian champion. And one name stands out from the start: Gilles Thomas. He has won a medal in each of the past three years and has high hopes for this year too.  Gilles Thomas (28) is the man to watch in Lanaken. In 2021, he won bronze with Konak, and in 2023 he became Belgian champion for the first time with Ermitage Kalone, who was barely nine years old at the time. A year later, he did it again, this time with the experienced mare Luna van het Dennehof. Last year, he was pipped to the post only by Jos Verlooy and took silver with Qiara de Kalvarie, also a nine-year-old.

Although most horses reach their peak around the age of 12, Thomas has a good reason for his decision to enter the stallion Riesling van’t Roosakker in the competition. “A championship like this is a good step for his development. I did the same with Ermitage, and last year with Qiara. He’s only nine, but he jumps well,” says Thomas.

He isn’t counting on a medal, but he isn’t ruling one out either. “I’ve often been among the frontrunners in recent years, and that’s obviously nice. But in equestrian sport, sometimes you feel good and don’t win, and sometimes it’s the other way round. But secretly, I’m hoping for a medal.”

Defending champion Jos Verlooy isn’t on the start list this year. So the path to a new champion is wide open. Read more