Maikel van der Vleuten

Maikel Leonardus van der Vleuten (born 10 February 1988 in Geldrop) is a Dutch show jumping rider. He grew up around horses, as his father Eric is a successful show jumper, and began riding at six. He took team gold with Nobel at the 2005 European Junior Championship, made his senior debut in 2010 and was selected for the Dutch team at the 2012 London Olympics, where, riding Verdi TN, the team won silver. Verdi TN and van der Vleuten then won team gold at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy and team gold at the 2015 European Championships, and finished sixth at the FEI World Cup Finals in 2014 and 2015. He has been ranked as high as fifth in the world, and he and his father are sponsored by the VDL Groep.