Germany takes the lead in Olympic dressage at Greenwich

Kristina Sprehe has taken the German Olympic dressage team into the lead three-quarters of the way through the grand prix.

The 25-year-old scored 79.812% on Desperados to jump straight into the number one position ahead of Britain’s Carl Hester, who led the first day with 77.72%.

This means that Charlotte Dujardin, the third and final team rider for Britain, will have to post a score of around 80% to put Britain in gold medal position before Tuesday’s grand prix special, which for the first time forms the other half of the team competition.

Carl Hester and Laura Bechtolsheimer remain second and third, ahead of Germany’s Dorothee Schneider in fourth.

And Germany’s strongest combination, Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill, are yet to come.

Richard Davison, Britain’s individual rider, scored a strong 72.812% on the 13-year-old Artemis for 11th place at the moment.

“Boy, did I work hard!” he said. “When the heavy rain came 10 minutes before my test and everyone put their umbrellas up, Artemis got really scared and jumpy, so the final 10 minutes of my preparation were not what I wanted.

“At the beginning of his test he was still nervous, but as time went on he started to come back to me. If I get through to the special, I will get a better ride out of him, I’m sure.”

The top seven teams and the top 11 individuals can compete in the grand prix special.

Charlotte Dujardin’s test is at 2.10pm today, and British fans will have to wait nervously until the final rider, Helen Langehanenberg at 3.20pm, to see how the British and German teams will fare at the end of this round.

Full 13-page report on the team dressage in H&H out next FRIDAY, 10 August

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