Belgium’s Justin Verboomen produced the test of his life at the 2025 European Dressage Championships in Crozet, scoring a personal best of 82.37% with his own nine-year-old stallion Zonik Plus to clinch individual gold in the grand prix special – and secure Belgium’s first-ever championship medal.

It was always set to be a nail-biting contest against Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour (Mount St John Freestyle) and Isabell Werth (Wendy De Fontaine), but in the end, the tiniest of mistakes proved decisive.

Drawn first of the leading trio, Justin set the bar with a phenomenal, fault-free performance. His test was filled with nines for the trotwork, piaffe and passage, and no fewer than four 10s for his double-marked pirouettes.

“I’m really struggling to take it all in,” said a visibly emotion

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