Enthronement with announcement: defending champion and serial winner Germany had to be satisfied with third place at the world championships for dressage riders in Herning. As expected, host Denmark won the gold medal with their new star Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and the gelding Vamos Amigos at the top with 235.451 percentage points ahead of Great Britain with an outstanding Charlotte Fry on the impressive stallion Glamourdale (234.223). In the middle of a renewal process, defending champion Germany fought respectably, but a higher overall score than 230.791 percentage points was not possible given the current level of performance.
The best German couple was the most successful tournament rider in the world, Isabell Werth, with her only 12-year-old stallion Quantaz in fifth place. All Germans, with the exception of the great champion from Rheinberg, were newcomers to the World Cup, whether they had two or more legs. “We have a time when we have to build ourselves up again,” said 53-year-old Werth. One cannot, of course, expect to always be able to ride off with a quartet that achieves top marks. In any case, a dressage championship has not been as exciting as this time for a long time.
No full risk
For the first time since the 2015 European Championships in Aachen, the German team did not win the title. In the history of the World Championships since 1966, German dressage teams have only failed to win the title twice, namely in 1970 and 2010. Dennis Peiler, head of sports at the German association, was relaxed. “Today it was only enough for bronze”, we are all satisfied with that.” The most important goal was the Olympic qualification, for which sixth place would have been enough. “Our full concentration is now on Paris 2024.” After all, it was said beforehand that this would be a difficult World Cup.
Werth in particular had had difficulties in the preparations, especially during the dress rehearsal in Kronberg. But she managed to get the rebellious Quantaz back on her side in time with a lot of empathy. “He came back to me and I thought that was very decent of him,” she said. However, she did not ride with the full risk in the Grand Prix, if only to avoid jeopardizing the team result. Her grade: 77.127 percentage points. In the Grand Prix Special this Monday, when it comes to the individual medals, she should dare more.
Benjamin Werndl after his ride on Famoso.
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Image: dpa
Frederic Wandres from Hagen am Teutoburg Forest would have needed more than 80 percentage points to challenge the British for silver. He had calculated that before his ride. “But you have to leave the church in the village.” Without the mistake in the two-man canter changes, he could have achieved a little more than the 76.661 percentage points with his reliable gelding Duke of Britain.
But even with that, the Germans could not have improved in the overall ranking. “I think we delivered as a team,” said Wandres, who was the only one who looked a bit disappointed. “Compared to the fact that we have four horses with no experience at the World Championships, it’s a great result.” Another dream came true 100 percent: he had always wanted to be on the same team photo as Isabell Werth.
The fact that all riders and horses were in great shape on the decisive day shows the quality of the preparation with a training camp in Schleswig-Holstein, which also made travel easier for everyone. Already on Saturday, Ingrid Klimke from Münster with the fourteen-year-old stallion Franziskus with 75.683 percentage points and Benjamin Werndl (Aubenhausen) with the 14-year-old gelding Famoso with 77.003 percentage points delivered personal bests and thus laid the foundation for winning the medal.
Klimke, highly decorated as an eventing rider, competes in Herning for the first time at a dressage World Championships and beamed at the performance of the easily distracted Franziskus, who this time didn’t let the environment throw him off his concentration. Werndl was also very satisfied: “That was the best test of our lives so far,” he said. “So far. But there are two more to come.” The World Championships continue: the special on Monday is followed by the freestyle on Wednesday, the international competition is strong and the medals will be hard fought.
Only on Sunday evening did it become known that the British rider Gareth Hughes had started for his team on Saturday despite a corona infection. “He has Covid,” his teammate Richard Davison said at Sunday’s press conference. “He’s doing a little better today.” The British team management referred to the laws in force in Denmark, according to which people suffering from Covid do not have to be quarantined. The other riders had not been informed either. A spokeswoman for the British team said he kept his distance from everyone. The procedure had been agreed with the organizer. At the awards ceremony, however, Hughes stood on the podium with the other medalists without a mask.
