Early life
Maikel van der Vleuten was born on 10 February 1988 in Geldrop, the Netherlands. His father, Eric, is a successful show jumper himself, and Maikel and his brother, Eric Jr., grew up with horses. Maikel began riding at the age of 6 and starting competing internationally at the age of 13 in the pony divisions. He competed in his first championship as a junior rider in 2004, and in 2005 he won team gold with Nobel at the FEI European Junior Championship. In the years 2006–2009, van der Vleuten competed in the FEI Young Rider Championships each year, taking home a team silver and a team bronze, and finishing fifth individually three of the four years.Professional career
Van der Vleuten began competing at the senior level in 2010, jumping his first 5* competition at Rotterdam (NEL). He jumped at his first senior championship the following year, competing for the Netherlands at the 2011 European Championships in Madrid (ESP) where the team finished fourth. In 2012, van der Vleuten was selected for the Dutch team to compete at the London Olympic Games with Verdi TN, where the team won the silver medal. Two years later, Verdi TN and van der Vleuten won the gold medal with the Dutch team at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy (FRA). They were also 6th at the FEI World Cup Finals in Lyon (FRA) and won the FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona (ESP). Van der Vleuten continued to his international success, winning team gold at the 2015 European Championships, and recording another 6th-place finish at the FEI World Cup Jumping Finals, this time in Las Vegas, NV (USA). Verdi TN and van der Vleuten competed at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro where they finished 20th individually. Although van der Vleuten had other horses in his string, he used Verdi TN at nearly every championship until Verdi's retirement in March 2020. Van der Vleuten and his father, Eric, are sponsored by theResults
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vleuten, Maikel van der 1988 births Living people People from Geldrop Sportspeople from North Brabant Dutch show jumping riders Olympic equestrians of the Netherlands Dutch male equestrians Equestrians at the 2012 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2016 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands Olympic medalists in equestrian Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Dutch people