Every generation of show jumping produces a handful of riders who arrive so fully formed, so clearly destined for the top of the sport, that watching them feels less like witnessing a career in progress and more like watching history being written in real time. Right now, in March 2026, we are in the middle of one of those generations. The names at the sharp end of the junior and young rider rankings -- and increasingly, the senior Grand Prix results -- are exactly the kind of riders that make the sport worth following closely. From a 21-year-old Californian who just finished second at a World Cup qualifier in Toronto to a 26-year-old French rider who cracked the world top ten for the first time in January, the next generation has officially arrived. Here is who to know, what they have done, and why they matter.
Harry Charles, 26 (GBR): The Olympic Champion Building His Next Chapter
There is a version of Harry Charles's story that starts with his father Peter Charles winning team gold at the London 2012 Olympics -- a clean narrative of equestrian dynasty. But the more interesting version starts with a broken wrist. Four weeks before the Paris 2024 Olympics, Harry fractured his wrist. He competed anyway, strapped and taped, and jumped clear in the Team Final to help Great Britain secure Olympic gold. He was a member of the British team that won show jumping gold at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, riding Romeo 88, competing with a strapped arm after suffering a fracture four weeks prior. That is the kind of rider Harry Charles is. Read our full breakdown of the 2025/2026 World Cup season.
Harry Charles was born into showjumping to parents Peter and Tara Charles. At the age of 16, he beat his father to win the Welsh Masters, becoming the youngest rider to win the title. His two sisters Sienna and Scarlett are also competing -- this is genuinely a family business, built on horses and run on talent.
After a relatively quieter 2025 -- during which he married fellow equestrian and Stanford graduate Eve Jobs, daughter of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs -- Harry is enjoying a resurgent start to 2026, with two four- and five-star wins to his name already. Currently competing on the tour in Doha, Qatar, the 2024 Olympic gold medallist began the year with Grand Prix success on Casquo Blue. His string now includes the eye-catching nine-year-old Fighting Phil (by Cornet Obolensky), who has already jumped a couple of three-star Grand Prix and just seems to be getting better and better.
What makes Harry Charles particularly fascinating to follow right now is the challenge he has set himself -- rebuilding a top string in the wake of Romeo 88's retirement while simultaneously chasing the podium at Aachen this summer. After falling badly at the Winter Equestrian Festival and injuring his back, Harry publicly called for safer course designs, with over 400 riders supporting his views. He is not only a brilliant rider -- he is a voice in the sport. Watch for him at Aachen in August.
The Horse That Changed Everything
Romeo 88 -- the 16-year-old Zangersheide gelding who carried Harry Charles to two Olympics, a World Championship bronze, and ultimately Olympic gold in Paris -- retired from the sport in 2025. On his Instagram, Charles wrote: "Romeo, thank you for everything -- you changed my life and I'll be forever grateful for you." It is the kind of tribute that only makes sense when you understand what the partnership actually produced. Now Harry is building the next chapter. Fighting Phil, Casquo Blue, Sherlock, and Bandit are the names to know going forward.
Nina Mallevaey, 26 (FRA): The Frenchwoman Who Made History in January
In January 2026, something happened in the Longines World Rankings that had not happened in a decade. Nina Mallevaey infiltrated the top ten ranks in January 2026 for the first time in her career. It is an event as rare as a Death Valley superbloom -- a once-in-a-decade occurrence. The last time two lady riders were ranked in the world top 10 was a decade ago in 2016. Mallevaey became world number eight -- the highest-ranked female athlete in the sport right now -- and she got there the hard way.
Introduced to the sport by her father and now firmly anchored in a transatlantic program, she benefits from the unwavering support of Canadians Mark and Tara Rein, owners of her top horses Nikka VD Bisschop, Dynastie de Beaufour, My Clementine and Destine To Be. Raised in northern France, Nina Mallevaey has built a transatlantic career over the past four years that has carried her to the top of the sport.
Climbing the ranks under the tutelage of Julien Epaillard and Eric Lamaze, Mallevaey officially hit her stride in 2025 when she won the Rolex Grand Prix of Brussels. As the season progressed she climbed more than 70 placings to number 17 in the world, with five-star podium finishes in Spruce Meadows, Rotterdam, and Rome. She then kept going -- and by January 2026 she was in the top ten.
What stands out about Mallevaey is not just the results -- it is the consistency. Aboard her top horse Dynastie, Mallevaey boasts a 59% top ten finish rate in 32 rounds at 1.60m and above. That kind of hit rate at that height, sustained over that volume of starts, is what separates the genuinely elite from the talented. She is also refreshingly honest about her mistakes -- after a difficult team final at the European Championships, she said simply: "I'll learn from it. I made mistakes and I will try not to repeat them." That is the mentality of a champion in the making.
Skylar Wireman, 21 (USA): The Documentary Subject Who Also Wins
There is currently a documentary being made about Skylar Wireman. In the elite world of show jumping, where wealth often determines success, rising star Skylar Wireman defies the odds -- proving that talent, work ethic, and an unbreakable bond with her horse Tornado can challenge a system built for the privileged. The film is a proof of concept for a feature-length documentary planned for release ahead of the LA 2028 Olympics. That tells you something about how seriously the equestrian world is taking this 21-year-old from California.
In addition to a successful junior career that included multiple West Coast equitation titles and double gold medals at the FEI North American Youth Championships in the Young Riders division, Wireman burst onto the scene with her victory in the four-star FEI World Cup Qualifier in Fort Worth, Texas in 2024. She made her FEI Jumping World Cup Finals debut that same year in Riyadh with Tornado, and topped the USEF FEI U25 Rankings.
Most recently, two up-and-coming 21-year-old riders representing the United States rounded out the remaining spots on the podium in Toronto, with Skylar Wireman taking second on Barclino B while Mimi Gochman settled for third riding Inclen BH. The veteran Conor Swail, 53, who won that night, was generous in his assessment: "Both these kids are very good riders and they are great horsewomen. They're tough to beat." When a rider of that experience says that about a 21-year-old, it means something.
Wireman is also taking aim at Fort Worth for the 2026 World Cup Final -- hoping to return to the venue where she scored her first-ever World Cup qualifying win in 2023. She will be one of the youngest riders in the field. She is not going there to make up the numbers.
Grace Wahlberg, 16 (USA): The Junior Who Earned Her Ribbon
Grace Wahlberg is 16 years old, she is the daughter of Mark Wahlberg, and she is a genuinely competitive junior show jumper -- not a celebrity hobby rider, but a serious young athlete who trains hard and competes on the circuit. Grace recently won the EquiFit Leading Junior Jumper Award at Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, California. Desert Horse Park, the show ground in Thermal where Grace often competes, shared a post congratulating her: "Congratulations to Grace Wahlberg on winning the EquiFit Leading Junior Jumper Award!"
In November 2025, Grace was injured during a competition, sharing a photo from a hospital bed wearing a sling with the caption "No pressure we will be back." Her father Mark commented with praying, broken heart and crying emojis. She came back. That is what junior riders who are serious about the sport do.
Mark Wahlberg has been characteristically candid about the experience of being a show jumping parent -- posting from the stands at Grace's competitions with the caption: "I've never been more nervous, anxious, or stressed at any sporting event in my life." Anyone who has watched their junior rider compete will recognize that feeling immediately. What is notable about Grace is that behind all the celebrity context, there is a young rider doing the actual work -- the early mornings, the training, the competition prep, the comeback from injury. Mark told Access Hollywood of the injury: "She's doing great. It was terrifying. It's a very, very dangerous sport, but she's so passionate about it." Passion and the willingness to come back after getting hurt -- that is the foundation of every serious equestrian career at any level. Read our full breakdown Equestrian's mainstream moments.
The Pipeline: How the US Develops Its Rising Stars
The riders above did not arrive fully formed. Behind each of them is a development system designed specifically to identify and develop the next generation of top US and international show jumping athletes.
USEF Show Jumping Talent Search
The Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search attracts the nation's top Junior and Young Riders and former winners have gone on to great success in international competition. Finals are held on both coasts -- East at Gladstone, NJ, West at Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, CA.
FEI North American Youth Championships
The NAYC provides junior and young riders the opportunity to compete against their peers in a championship format similar to senior international championships. Skylar Wireman won double gold here in the Young Riders division in 2025. This is where careers are announced.
Horsemastership Training Series
US Equestrian's Horsemastership Training Series, held each January in Wellington, is designed to identify and develop the next generation of top US Show Jumping team athletes. Mounted and unmounted sessions with top industry professionals. The invitation list reads like a who's who of American junior talent.
USEF U25 Rankings
The USEF Jumping U25 Ranking Lists track the development of riders aged 25 and under as they bridge from junior and young rider competition into senior international sport. Wireman topped these rankings. Volpi sits second. These are the names that will define the next decade of American jumping.
Two More Names Worth Knowing
Alessandra Volpi, 25 (USA)
After a successful junior career that included a team silver medal at the FEI North American Youth Championships in 2019 -- while still a student at Stanford University -- Alessandra Volpi graduated to Senior Nations Cup competition in 2023 and recently jumped for Team USA in the Longines League of Nations Finals in Barcelona. Currently ranked second on the USEF U25 Rider Rankings, Volpi has qualified and competed in two FEI Jumping World Cup Finals, finishing third in the Second Final Competition with Gipsy Love. A Stanford degree and a World Cup podium. Not a bad combination.
Mimi Gochman, 21 (USA)
The same Toronto World Cup qualifier that saw Wireman finish second saw Gochman finish third -- two 21-year-old Americans on the podium at a CSI5*-W behind a 53-year-old Olympian. Making her first appearance at the Royal Horse Show, Gochman was the first clear in the opening round riding Inclen BH. She was generous in her assessment of an uncharacteristic mistake in the jump-off: "These things happen and I'm lucky that I have a fantastic team and a fantastic horse and the opportunity to be here at all." That kind of perspective, at 21, in a five-star class, is rare.
The Next Generation Is Already Here
The conversation about the future of show jumping often gets framed as something still to come -- a generation still developing, still waiting to arrive. The riders in this article suggest otherwise. Harry Charles has an Olympic gold medal. Nina Mallevaey is world number eight. Skylar Wireman is 21 and already a World Cup Final eteran. Grace Wahlberg came back from a hospital bed, won a Leading Junior Award, and kept going.
The future of the sport is not waiting in the wings. It is already in the ring, jumping 1.60 meters, competing for World Cup points, and building the strings of horses that will carry them to Los Angeles in 2028. The riders who will define that Olympic cycle are, right now, competing in Ocala and Doha and on the indoor circuit, week after week, building toward something.
Pay attention. This is the good part.
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