The first day of the Tokyo Olympics grand prix dressage was crammed full of exciting highlights. Here are the five things you need to know about today...
On day one of the Tokyo Olympics dressage, Britain’s 25-year-old Lottie Fry made her Olympic debut, 29 years after her late mother Laura Fry rode at the Barcelona Games. And what a debut it was – she and Everdale pulled out a corker of a test for more than 77%, which is a personal best for them in the grand prix.
Carl Hester also rode a brilliant test for Britain, and was thrilled with how his ride, the hot, nervy Jazz son En Vogue – who is owned by Charlotte Dujardin – coped in the huge Tokyo stadium. He scored 75.12%, with just a couple of unfortunate mistakes bringing his mark down.
Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl showed everyone why she is one of the hot favourites for individual gold at these Olympics, absolutely knocking it out of the park with a grand prix more than 2% than her previous best in this test.
Edward Gal from the Netherlands caught the eye in more than one way today. He was one of the day’s highest scorers aboard the Totilas son Total US, and also showed off the Dutch riders’ new championship attire – snazzy orange tailcoats (pictured above).
The only USA rider in action on day one of the grand prix was Sabine Schut-Kery, and she made everyone sit up with a stunning grand prix on Sanceo that earned her a score 3% higher than her previous best. We were so impressed we named her H&H’s Tokyo rider of the day.
It’s now 1.30am here in Tokyo, so it’s definitely time for bed, but we can’t wait to bring you more exciting action from the second day of grand prix dressage action tomorrow. The first in our new series of daily Tokyo podcasts will be available for you to enjoy shortly, but I’m signing off and leaving that in the capable hands of our team back in the UK. See you on the other side!
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