Highs and lows on day one of the FEI Dressage World Championships

Photo credit: Jon Stroud

The Dressage World Championships is well underway and it’s the Netherlands leading the way in both the team and individual rankings with Team GB sitting in fifth overnight – but it’s still all to play for.

The first day of the World Championships was not without drama with the individual leader overnight The Netherlands’ Dinja Van Liere with Hermes, who notched up an exceptional 78.214%. The score puts The Netherlands into first place in the team rankings, too. The pair have caused some contention, however, with a very wide range of final scores being awarded by the judges, but it was undoubtedly a test for the team to be proud of.

For Great Britain, Richard Davidson was the first rider to go on day one of tests, riding 16-year-old, Bubblingh. The experienced pair performed a beautifully accurate test racking up a respectable score of 68.851% putting them in 25^th place overnight. Speaking after his test Richard said: “Obviously it wasn’t the test we’d dreamed of, Bubblingh is a delicate character. We had a few miscommunications, but he came back, started receiving the messages and delivered some nice stuff.” Richard is no stranger to riding at this level and was famously part of the team when Britain won their first ever Championship medal – a sliver in 1993.

Gareth Hughes was next to go for Team GB with Classic Briolinca. The pair put on marvellous display scoring very highly throughout the test and looked on course to take the top spot. Unfortunately, disaster struck as they came down the centre line for their final halt and salute. With the crowd clapping in time to Classic Briolinca’s movement Gareth couldn’t bring her to a halt, leading to low scores across the board – pushing their score to 75.978% and leaving him in sixth place overnight for the individuals. Although the end of his test was undoubtedly not what Gareth hoped for, the score is a tremendous boost for the British team and leaves them very much in contention for a medal if tomorrow goes to plan.

For defending team Champions Germany, Ingrid Klimke was first between the white boards. Better known for her eventing prowess Ingrid is making a name for herself on the dressage circuit and gave an outstanding performance with 14-year-old Franziskus, scoring a new personal best of 75.683%, combined with teammate Benjamin Werndl’s score of 77.003%, Germany sits in second going into day two.

It was a disappointing day for the Irish team with Sorrel Klatzko being eliminated only moments into her debut World Championship test after the judges deemed her horse, Turbo, was unlevel after a spook on the way into the arena. The team are of course not out of the running as only three scores count towards the final team mark, but it means the pressure is on for the final two riders.

It’s still anybody’s championship after day one with some big names to come tomorrow including Britain’s own Charlotte Dujardin and Imhotep. Imhotep is the son of Everdale, who Charlotte’s teammate, Lottie Fry, rode at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He may be only 9 years old, but with Charlotte on board it’s bound to be a test to remember.

For the full results, timings for tomorrow and for details of how to watch the action, head to herning2022.com