Harrie SmoldersOlympian

About Harrie Smolders

Harrie Smolders, born on 10 May 1980 in Lage Mierde in North Brabant, is an active Dutch showjumper based at Grobbendonk in Belgium, where he runs Smolders Sporthorses B.V. and rides in association with Evergate Stables. He began riding a pony at eight, won national pony titles in jumping, dressage and eventing, and at 18 moved to Meppel for more than four years developing young horses with the former European champion Johan Heins before joining Axel Verlooy's stable in Grobbendonk in 2002.

He has three competitive Olympic appearances. At Rio 2016 with Emerald N.O.P. the Dutch team finished equal seventh and he was classified 27th individually after withdrawing from the individual final stage. At the Tokyo 2020 Games, held in 2021, he made a team start only with Bingo du Parc, the Netherlands finishing fourth, and no individual Olympic start is recorded; he rode with broken ribs sustained in a fall a month earlier. At Paris 2024 with Uricas V/d Kattevennen the team was fourth and he was fourth in the individual qualifier and 14th in the final. He has no Olympic medal.

His two senior championship medals are individual silver at the 2017 FEI European Jumping Championship in Gothenburg with Don VHP Z, where the Dutch team placed sixth, and team silver at the 2022 FEI Jumping World Championship in Herning with Monaco N.O.P., where he was 15th individually. He also won European Young Riders team bronze at Gijón in 2001. His other championship starts run from Windsor 2009 and Lexington 2010 with Exquis Walnut de Muze to Tryon 2018 with Don VHP Z, Riesenbeck 2021 with Bingo du Parc and Milan 2023 with Uricas V/d Kattevennen.

Smolders has made seven FEI Jumping World Cup Final starts and finished runner-up three times: Gothenburg 2016 on three penalties with Emerald, Leipzig 2022 on eight penalties with Monaco and Omaha 2023 on nine penalties with Monaco N.O.P. He has not won a Final. His 2014 World Cup wins at Del Mar and Las Vegas with Regina Z were league qualifiers, not Finals.

He reached world number one on 30 April 2018 and held the position for eight months. He won the Longines Global Champions Tour overall title in 2017 and 2023 and was runner-up in 2018 and 2025, took the 2017 Global Champions League title with Hamburg Diamonds, and helped the Netherlands win the 2005 Samsung Super League Final and the 2017 and 2021 FEI Nations Cup Finals. His single Rolex Grand Slam Major win came in the Rolex Grand Prix at CHI Geneva on 15 December 2024 with Monaco, in a jump-off time of 41.74 seconds; only The Dutch Masters, CHIO Aachen, the Spruce Meadows Masters and CHI Geneva carry Major status. Official Rolex material records five top-three Major placings in all. In 2025 he won three LGCT Grands Prix with Monaco, at Cannes, Valkenswaard and Rome.

At the 4 August 2026 cut-off the FEI profile lists him 24th on 2,342 points, though the Rolex Series rider page shows 18th on an undated snapshot and the conflict is left standing. His leading combinations are Mr. Tac and Estrello EH Z, with Monaco still competing. He is also a trainer and horse producer, has coached Jos Verlooy, Audrey Coulter and Jennifer Gates, and helped create the SLF Horse Auction.