Ahead of the Dressage team medals finale, Germany asserts its dominance.
D. Schneider Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
On Sunday, Team Germany topped the standings in the Dressage Grand Prix competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, continuing their impressive run of form.
At the end of the competition, Dorothee Schneider and Showtime took first place, and Isabell Werth, a living legend, rode Bella Rose to first place, determining the eight countries that will compete in Tuesday’s Grand Prix Special, in which all teams begin at the beginning.
Britain, who came in second on Sunday, will join the reigning champions, along with the rest of the top eight teams: the United States, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, and Spain.
Meanwhile, the 18 athletes who will compete for medals in the Individual event on Wednesday have been determined, with the top two finishers from each of the six groups having made the cut.
Therese Nilshagen and Juliette Ramel of Sweden, Cathrine Dufour and Carina Cassoe Kruth of Denmark, Edward Gal of the Netherlands, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl of Germany, Dorothee Schneider of Germany, Isabell Werth of Germany, Sabine Schut-Kery of Germany, and Adrienne Lyle of the United States will all be passing through.
Six other persons, including runners-up Nanna Skodborg Merrald (Denmark), Beatriz Ferrer-Salat (Spain), Hans Peter Minderhoud (The Netherlands), Carl Hester (Great Britain), Rodrigo Torees (Portugal), and Steffen Peters (Denmark), made the cut (USA).
On Monday night, Cassoe Kruth of Denmark and Lyle of the United States took the top two slots in Group D, while in Group E, Germany’s Schneider was in the lead after a particularly lovely test.
In an Interview, Schneider:
Who has only recently returned to elite competition for various reasons, remarked that her horse was “a little bit tense but it’s usual for him on (the) first day.”
Showtime went to the 2019 European Championships, but he didn’t compete again until 2020 since I was keeping him at home to prevent injury before the Olympics.
I had planned to get started at the beginning of 2021, but an accident in April derailed my plans. She has been riding the gelding since he was three years old, and he carried her to team gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
“But he’s an experienced horse and once he gets out to compete three or four times he’s fine,” she said.
She fell off her horse during an Awards Ceremony and broke her Collarbone;
She later commented, “but it’s all good again!” She went on to say that getting back on her horse was “not so easy emotionally,” but that she is “happy again.”
With Schneider’s compatriot Werth at the helm of the last group of 10 horse-and-athlete combinations, Werth’s performance as the final competitor on Sunday night bolstered the strength of the German challenge.
Werth and her trusty steed Bella Rose won 82,500 points, putting them in second place behind Charlotte Dujardin of the United Kingdom and the adorable little chestnut stallion Gio.
In any case, it seems like the Future holds a great deal more for both of these Ladies.
And Dujardin, whose dominance with the legendary Valegro revolutionised the sport of Dressage significantly in recent years, is obviously very enthusiastic about her newest emerging star. On Sunday night, the tension between her and Werth, the unfading queen, was palpable.
I was really delighted, he’s a very green, inexperienced horse, so it was a bit of an uncertainty what to expect,” Dujardin said of Gio. As far as shows go, his performance in Hagen (Germany, April of this year) was by far the most impressive.
She continued, “I couldn’t ask for any more today, he got in there and he tried his heart out.” It’s impossible to believe how much he gives. “When you have a ride like that, win or lose, that’s what it’s all about for me,” I said tearfully on the final centreline.
She spoke about how “he’s like a tiny powerhouse, he’s small but absolutely mighty, given where he is at his training I know he can provide even more and I’m really delighted with him.”
Clearly, Werth takes Pleasure in her Newfound Competition with her British Opponent.
She remarked, “It’s always really vital that you have a great field of competitors because then you push each other to peak performances and that’s the spirit of competition.”
As she put it, “my dream horse and when she is in top shape she is the best — her way of moving, her character, her charisma, her piaffe/passage down the centerline — of course Weihe (her other mare Weihegold) is super, and the younger ones too, but with Bella you have the feeling that there is always something more possible!” Bella Rose is 17 years old.
The multiple Olympic champion claimed that the lack of an audience at these “Games like no other” in Tokyo could have an impact because of the limits placed on crowds due to the coronavirus.
Conclusion
The Freestyle event is where you will see it reflected most clearly in the medal standings. There will be music, but no spectators to lift the horses and riders, which is a major change. On the other hand, we are so grateful to be able to compete in the Olympics at all.
“We are in a discipline that is really reliant on Games,” she added, “because then we are more in the focus of the media and the globe, and it provides the younger riders at home the incentive and support so it’s a big package we have, and we are really glad to be here.”