UAE Sweeps FEI Young Horse Championship Team Title
Al Kitbi's Repeat Win on Known Ground
The UAE claimed the Team gold medal at the FEI Endurance World Championship for Young Horses 2026, held at Barroca d'Alva, Alcochete, in Portugal, with the national side recording a collective riding time of 16:53:34 across its counting riders. Salem Hamad Saeed Malhoof Al Kitbi anchored that result by winning the Individual gold medal, completing the 120km course, run over four stages, at an average speed of 23.764km/h.
Al Kitbi's result did not arrive without preparation. He had already won his qualifying event at Loubéjac in France earlier in the year, covering that course at an average speed of 19.9km/h, and he claimed victory in the Barroca d'Alva test event in 2025, giving him prior experience of the ground before the championship proper began.
The UAE's other counting riders in the team competition were Nasser Hesham Nasser Mohammad Al Suwaidi, who finished 19th, and 15-year-old Essa Abdulla Essa Ali Abdulla, who finished 20th aboard the Spanish-bred mare Nahaba. Their placings, combined with Al Kitbi's individual time, were enough to secure the team title for the UAE ahead of France and Spain.
France took the Team silver medal with a combined time of 17:30:31, while Spain claimed Team bronze in 17:56:37, both sides finishing behind the UAE once every counting rider had completed the full 120km distance across the four stages.
Depth Behind the UAE Effort in Portugal
The UAE sent a 13-strong contingent to Barroca d'Alva, with five riders — Al Kitbi, Issa Abdullah Issa, Rashid Al Mheiri, Naser Al Suwaidi and Ali Al Falasi — forming the main team, supported by eight further individual competitors. Al Kitbi's individual gold and the team's combined time of 16:53:34 stood as the clearest measures of that effort, with the wider group of eight individual competitors adding to the total number of UAE riders present at the championship without contributing to the counting team score.
The championship drew riders and horses from more than two dozen nations, with Spain's team featuring prominently in both the individual and team medal placings. Spain's Omar Blanco Rodrigo took Individual bronze aboard Yanna, finishing well behind the winning time, and Yanna was also presented with the Best Condition award, recognising the horse's physical state at the finish after the 120km test.
The win extended a period of sustained success for the UAE at this level, with the country's riders having claimed the individual title in each of the previous two editions, making Al Kitbi's victory the third consecutive individual title for a UAE rider at this championship.
Course Test Rewarded Proven Combinations
The Barroca d'Alva course asked riders to manage pace and recovery across four stages over 120 kilometres, a test that rewards combinations with prior experience of the terrain and climate. Al Kitbi's return to the venue, having already competed there in 2025, gave him a working knowledge of the course conditions that newer combinations in the field did not share.
Portugal's staging of the championship placed it firmly on the Young Horse calendar, with Barroca d'Alva having already hosted a test event in 2025 that Al Kitbi also won. That continuity between test event and championship gave several combinations, not only the UAE's, a chance to prepare on ground they already knew before the global title was decided. The repeated use of the venue across both the test event and the championship itself underlined the importance placed on course familiarity within the discipline, with riders across several nations able to draw on knowledge gained the previous year when tackling the same four-stage layout under championship conditions.