TOM Wachman has been nominated for the Longines FEI Rising Star award for a person aged 14 to 21 who demonstrates outstanding sporting talent and commitment. He is up against Thijs Boon (Eventing, Belgium), Géraldine Straumann (Jumping, Switzerland) and Dominique van Dalsen (Dressage, Netherlands).

At only 20 years of age, Wachman has established himself at senior level, occupying 77th in the Longines Rankings. This year, Tom realised his childhood dream of jumping in the historic Aga Khan at the Dublin Horse Show and represented Ireland at numerous CSIO5* events, contributing to team wins such as in La Baule (FRA). When Wachman was 12, he began training with Cian O’Connor and his team at Karlswood. The following year, he competed in the FEI Jumping European Championship for ponies and then went on to take part in the Juniors and Young Riders. Tom is already a three-time individual European Champion, namely in the pony category in 2019, the Junior category in 2023 and in the Young Rider category in 2024. And this year, he was also part of the Irish team winning the silver medal at the FEI Jumping European Championship for Young Riders, Juniors and Children in Riesenbeck (GER). Voting is open via www.fei.org/awards until October 12th.