Harry Charles wins world jumping bronze at Aachen; surges 20 places to bronze.

Equestrian: Harry Charles on his ‘unlikely, but not impossible’ world jumping bronze

From nearly booking a holiday to climbing 20 places for world bronze, Harry Charles reveals how LT Holst Freda changed everything, and how ChatGPT kept his medal hopes alive

Everything about Harry Charles ’ route to world championship bronze was unexpected.

In fact, just three months before the FEI World Championships Aachen 2026 , Great Britain’s two-time equestrian Olympian was considering booking a holiday for the week of the championships.

By Sunday evening (23 August), he was standing on the individual jumping podium with a bronze medal around his neck.

At the heart of that unexpected journey was the horse who, in Charles’ words, “changed everything”: 12-year-old mare LT Holst Freda .

Her arrival came at an important moment for the 27-year-old Brit. Two years earlier, he had helped Team GB win team jumping gold at Paris 2024 aboard Romeo 88 , his long-time championship partner who has since retired from the sport. Finding the horse to take him into the next chapter of his career was therefore no small task.

The mare had originally been intended for his wife, Eve Jobs (daughter of the late Steve Jobs), who had only just returned to England when she learned there was an opportunity to try the horse.

“She didn’t even leave the airport,” Charles recalled in the post-competition press conference. “She turned around, booked another flight and flew out.”

Charles and his father went to see Freda before Eve arrived and the first impression was immediate.

“When Eve turned up, I said, ‘I don’t think you even need to try this horse,’” he said. “I was anyway so in love with her.”

It was Eve who first floated the idea of Aachen. With the world championships only three months away, Charles initially dismissed the thought. His father, London 2012 Olympic team champion Peter Charles , was more optimistic.

“She said, ‘Do you think you could take this horse to the world championships?’ I said, ‘No, it is three months away. Probably not.’ And then she asked my dad the same question, and he said, ‘Absolutely.’”

Charles and Freda clicked almost immediately, and a double clear in Rotterdam in June offered the first real indication of what the pair might be capable of. Still, bringing such a new partnership to a world championships, at Aachen of all places, was an enormous test.

“In May, I was thinking I might as well book a holiday this week because it did not look very likely, and then Freda came along and changed everything for me,” Charles said. “She’s our dream horse, really. She’s so, so intelligent. Doesn’t really get fazed by much.”

How to qualify for equestrian jumping at LA28 Olympics

Team Final - Jumping | Equestrian | Olympic Games Paris 2024

The Jumping Team Final took place on 02

2024 at Chateau de Versailles. Great Britain claimed the Gold, the United States of America took Silver and France completed the podium.

Harry Charles jumps 20 places to bronze

Even after they made it to Aachen, Charles and Freda’s route to a medal was anything but straightforward. Mistakes earlier in the week left the pair sitting 23rd going into Sunday’s individual final (23 August), seemingly well outside the medal conversation.

Charles even turned to ChatGPT to find out whether a medal was still mathematically possible.

The answer? “Unlikely, but not impossible.”

Charles and Freda produced two clear rounds when it mattered most, becoming one of only three combinations to do so on Sunday. As faults accumulated among those ahead of them, the British pair surged 20 places up the standings , from 23rd to bronze on 7.17 penalties .

“Starting in 23rd, I was maybe thinking, ‘Do I even jump?’” Charles said. “I can’t really believe it, with the start of the week and where I am now.”

If a world bronze after only three months together is any indication, Charles believes there could be considerably more to come from his partnership with Freda.

“I’ve never had a horse like her and I might never again,” he said. “She’s the one, I think, for the future.”

The future already has one major target. Great Britain secured an LA28 team jumping quota* with world bronze two nights earlier, ensuring the reigning Olympic champions will have the opportunity to defend their title in Los Angeles.

“When we go back to LA, we’re going to very much be in the mindset of reclaiming our title,” said Charles.

*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the LA Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at LA28.

Equestrian | World Championships | Aachen | Germany