Olympic champions pull off sensational grand prix to put Germany within a whisker of gold

Germany look set to claim their sixth consecutive championship team gold at the European Dressage Championships, with Jessica von Bredow-Werndl riding a stunning grand prix aboard her Olympic champion TSF Dalera BB.

The test was a pleasure to watch, earning a plethora of 10s from the seven judges, and the final score was an enormous 84.099%. The test was virtually flawless, with beautiful, fluid tempi changes and seamless transitions in and out of piaffe-passage. The final mark was slightly lower than they earned in the grand prix at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, but still means the world numbers one combination have taken over from their teammates Isabell Werth and Weihegold OLD at the top of the rankings here.

“She was on fire, but still so focused and concentrated and I couldn’t have asked for more because from the very first second, to the very last second she didn’t give me any doubt that she wanted to do it. She was 100% with me,” said an emotional Jessica.

“Today was not as easy as it was in Tokyo, because in Tokyo, I only had to achieve 72% to win gold for the team, and today there was a little bit more to get. But I’m always giving my best, and so does Dalera. Today we both did it and everything was good.

“I’m so glad Dalera has so much power after the Olympics. She showed me two days after we got back home that she was fresh and well, and she proved that today. She’s the perfect partner,” she said, adding that originally she had not planned to bring Dalera to Hagen, but changed her mind after the mare showed so much energy and exuberance after her journey home from Tokyo.

Jessica von Bredow-Werndl’s test means the home side Germany finish on a total score of 238.944 at the European Dressage Championships. Denmark currently sit in silver with 231.165, but Britain’s final combination, Olympic bronze medallists Charlotte Dujardin and Gio are yet to ride. Charlotte must score 78.65% to put Britain ahead of Denmark into the silver medal position, while a score of 86.43% would be necessary to take the British quartet ahead of Germany into gold.

Britain have not taken home a medal from a European Dressage Championships since winning silver in 2015 – British teams finished fourth at the Europeans in both 2017 and 2019.

So far at this championship, British riders have excelled, with fantastic tests from Gareth Hughes with Sintano Van Hof Olympia and Lottie Fry on Everdale giving them the lead overnight, while Carl Hester kept them in serious contention with En Vogue earlier today.

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