Denmark confirms dressage team for Aachen – how do the reigning champions stack up this time?
We weigh the Danish team’s current form against the side that won gold in Herning, and against the German and British challengers ahead of the World Championships
Reigning world champion Denmark has announced its dressage team for the 2026 World Championships in Aachen, Germany (11–23 August).
It feels a lifetime ago that the Danish team secured that historic win – their first world title – in front of a rapturous home crowd in Herning with a squad hailed at the time as the strongest Denmark had ever fielded.
Carina Cassøe Krüth and Heiline's Danciera, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St John Freestyle, Daniel Bachmann Andersen and Flash Gordon 37 and Nadja Aaboe Sloth and Favour Gersdorf will carry Danish hopes into Aachen.
Three of the Herning four return to defend the title – Carina, Cathrine and Daniel all make the trip to Aachen, with Nadja stepping in for Nanna Merrald Rasmussen. But look past the riders' names, and it's a much changed team: only Carina's Heiline's Danciera survives from that gold-medal line-up, with Cathrine and Daniel both on different partners four years on.
Set against Herning, there’s a gap on paper – though it's worth remembering that was arguably the high-water mark of Danish dressage, and not a fair yardstick to judge any team against. The counting three that day – Nanna's 76.72% on Blue Hors Zack, Carina's 76.86% on Heiline's Danciera and Cathrine's 81.86% on Vamos Amigos – added up to 235.451, enough for a historic 1.2-point margin over a fast-finishing British team.
This team looks a little over four points shy of that total on current form – but it’s a stronger projection than that of the Danish team that took bronze at the Europeans last summer.
Cathrine and Mount St John Freestyle are the obvious standouts, averaging 83.43% across three CDI grands prix this year – well clear of what Vamos Amigos delivered in Herning.
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Everywhere else, the numbers point the other way. Daniel's promising but inexperienced new partner, Flash Gordon 37 – who only joined his string in January 2025 and made his international debut under him this March – has averaged 73.53%. That’s some three points shy of his score with Marshall-Bell in Herning.
Carina, still on Heiline's Danciera, sits at 74.04% from her one qualifying CDI this year, marginally down on her own Herning contribution on the same horse. Nadja, in for Nanna, averages 72.17% – over four and a half points below the score she’s directly replacing.
Add up the best three of this season’s four – Cathrine, Carina and Daniel, with Nadja’s score dropped as it would be in a team final – and you get 231, 4.45 points down on the total that won gold four years ago.
Set alongside this year's international grand prix form for their two closest challengers, Denmark’s projected total puts them third of the three – but not by much.
The German team was announced last week, and their best three (Isabell Werth, Katharina Hemmer and Frederic Wandres, with Raphael Netz’s score dropped) average out to 233.47.
Britain has announced its shortlist but not the definite team yet – we’re expecting that next week. However, their core trio (Lottie Fry, Carl Hester and Becky Moody) are almost guaranteed to be riding down the centre line in Aachen, and total 232.8. Denmark’s 231 leaves them 2.47 points off Germany and 1.80 off Britain – a gap, but not an unbridgeable one, and tighter than the 6.25 points that separated gold from bronze at last summer’s Europeans.
None of that decides anything on its own – form guides aren’t championship pressure. Anyone who was at Herning will remember how a rapturous home crowd can lift a combination past what the season’s numbers suggest and unnerve others. This time, it’s Germany who'll have that roar behind them, not Denmark.
Add in the eliminations, the one bad step nobody saw coming – championship week has a way of making a mockery of spreadsheets – but what’s certain is this: the Danes are experienced riders who know how to find their best when it matters.
Most nations have already confirmed their teams ahead of the FEI’s 27 July deadline for definite entries – follow our Aachen dressage teams page as the rest come in.
Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour peaking at the right time
Last summer’s Europeans showed just how fine the margins are between Cathrine on Freestyle and Belgium’s Justin Verboomen on Zonik Plus, the reigning European champions. Justin and Zonik Plus edged her in both individual tests – 82.37% to 81.69% in the special, then 89.96% to 89.82% in the freestyle, with barely half a point in it.
It was a thrilling and refreshing battle – in a sport that has so often been dominated by one outstanding horse – between two of the finest combinations in the world.
And we look set for a repeat of that titanic clash at the top. The two haven't met since – studiously avoiding a potential match-up. Cathrine and Mount St John Freestyle have been in career-best form all year, regardless. The pair opened the season with a personal-best 84.17% to win the Herning CDI5* grand prix in March, then added another lifetime-high 83.1% in the special at Hagen in April.
That form held through last week's Nations Cup finale at Falsterbo – Denmark's only outing in the series this year – where Cathrine's 83.72% headlined a dominant team display, before she added the freestyle title on 88.42% with a brand-new musical programme.
“I really had that dancing feeling and especially my last line, felt so uplifting having the crowd beside me as well," Cathrine said. “It’s been a lot of work putting this new freestyle together, and I think today was a perfect rehearsal, because now I know that there needs to be some small changes before the World Championships.”
Against Justin specifically, the freestyle picture is close to Crozet's, his 90.36% average this year nudging Cathrine’s 89.44% by under a point. But he hasn't yet ridden a special this year to set against her 83.1% at Hagen.
At 17 now, Mount St John Freestyle is entering the latter part of her career, and there’s no doubt she and Cathrine will be remembered among the finest partnerships of the modern era. But the individual gold or individual honour that would truly crown it remains agonisingly out of reach – time is running out to turn a career of silver into gold.
Danish dressage team for the 2026 Aachen World Championships
Daniel Bachmann Andersen with 12-year-old gelding Flash Gordon 37
Owner: Sofia Ek
Breeder: Jan Lueder Cornelius
Breeding: by Fiderbach, out of a mare by Don Romantic
Carina Cassøe Krüth with 15-year-old mare Heline’s Danciera
Owner: Poul Thøgersen
Breeder: Stald Heiline
Breeding: by Fürstenball, out of a mare by De Niro
Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour with 17-year-old mare Mount St John Freestyle
Owner: Laudrup-Dufour & Zinglersen ApS and Mount St John Equestrian LLP
Breeder: Stephan Kurz
Breeding: by Fidermark, out of a mare by Donnerhall
Nadja Aaboe Sloth with 13-year-old gelding Favour Gersdorf
Owner: rider
Breeder: Inger Marie Andreasen
Breeding: by Foundation, out of a mare by Leandro
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Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).