LAKE PLACID — A dramatic win by three-time Olympic veteran Alberto Michan of Israel in the $100,000 Grand Prix of Lake Placid culminated the first week of competition at the 2025 Lake Placid Horse Shows.

Michan was one of eight entries from the starting field of 29 representing six countries to reach the jump-off by riding without penalty over the 16-effort first-round course designed by Michel Vaillancourt. First to return for the eight-effort tiebreaker was Katie Dinan, the top U.S. finisher at this year’s FEI World Cup Finals in Basel, Switzerland. She rode her World Cup mount, an 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare Out Of The Blue SCF, to another clean round, finishing in 40.48 seconds to set the mark to beat.

Three rides later, Sam Walker (CAN) moved into the lead with a clean ride in 39.69 seconds aboard Anne Holman’s 9-year-old Hanoverian gelding Carruso PJ. Two rides later, Michan returned on Joint De Canabis Van De Doornhoeve, and he rode his 11-year-old, Dutch-bred gelding to a clean ride in 38.19 seconds which proved to be good enough for the win. Walker held on for second, with Dinan finishing third.

Dinan’s fellow Americans, Alison Robitaille on Alison Firestone LLC’s Claire De Lune 33 and Lauren Fischer on her Concouleur Z, had the only other clean rounds in the jump-off, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

“I was lucky to go near the end, and I was counting strides,” Michan said. “I saw that almost everyone was doing 10 or 11 strides to Fence No. 2, so I tried to do nine. Then the line to the last one was my big shot because I have a really big horse with a big stride. The nine for most of them was a little forward, but I was able to catch the inside way to that oxer, and I really gave it a go and got there in eight. Those two spots are where I was able to get the win.

“I think the changes they’ve made here with the new rings and new grounds are fantastic,” he added. “I think it’s really important for an iconic horse show like this, which has such a history and such a great tradition, that it be back where it has to be, at the top of every rider’s mind to come here and show.”

After an off day on Monday, the horse shows, sanctioned by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), resume at the newly renovated North Elba Showgrounds on Tuesday and run through Sunday.