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Photo credit: BEF/Jon Stroud Media
In a tightly contested individual dressage final, Team GB’s Lottie Fry secured her second bronze medal of Paris 2024!
As the last element of the Paris 2024 dressage competition got underway, 18 horse and rider combinations were set to perform their freestyle tests with the hope of securing an individual medal.
In his seventh – and possibly final – Olympics Games, Carl Hester was the first to go for Team GB, but could he finish on a high? Well, if there was a day to produce one of your best-ever tests, today was the day to do it and Carl did just that. Producing a fantastic performance to finish on a score of 85.161%, Carl and Fame went straight into the lead.
“I’m happy… really happy!”, Carl beamed, “Possibly the best freestyle I’ve ever done I would imagine. It had a high degree of difficulty and I didn’t make a mistake. I love this new music I’ve done – I’ve had a bit of an input into my music, Tom Hunt has done my music for the last few Olympics but I kind of just give him a programme and Tom says ‘I’m going to do this, that and the other, do you like it?’, whereas this time I thought I want some music that means something to me and it was just fun! I’m riding to the music for a change, rather than just following lines and that’s important that it actually matches.
“Fame was the best he’s been all week today, he’s just generous and that is him. That’s what he’s normally like at home so when he was a little bit nervous yesterday in the special and spooky, that’s not him really – that’s what an atmosphere and a big arena does. I’m so proud of how he performed today, it was a wonderful ride.”
After setting a personal best score in yesterday’s team final, Becky Moody was already on a high going into today’s competition. Things just got better for the rider who made her Olympic debut in Paris as she produced a fun and fabulous test with homebred Jagerbomb, to achieve a brilliant 84.357% which put them into second place.
Reflecting on her final performance of the Games, Becky said: “I think we were a little bit hot in our walk which was slightly costly and probably didn’t stand still enough in our halts, so that’s certainly our homework that we need to go and work on. But the rest of it, he was super cool.”
With five combinations left to go in the competition, Team GB riders, Carl and Becky, were still sat in gold and silver medal positions respectively, but the incredible Isabell Werth of Germany raised the standards dramatically with her outstanding test and leapt into the lead with a score of 89.614%.
But could the next pair to go – the dynamic duo of Lottie Fry and Glamourdale – top Isabell’s score? As Lottie’s dramatic music started to play, Glamourdale rose to the occasion once again but couldn’t quite knock Isabell off the top spot. They finished on a score of 88.971% to go into the silver medal position.
Despite not quite achieving their best result, Lottie was thrilled with her test: “That was a pretty amazing feeling with the music and the crowd. The whole arena was so incredible and to ride Glamourdale, who always rises to the occasion, he really delivered his best work today so I couldn’t be more pleased to be honest. We had a few tiny mistakes which was a shame, but it’s been a pretty long week for us here and he really gave his all. It was incredible and I’m really proud.”
As the end drew near, scores were tight at the top but with World number one Jessica von Bredow-Werndl still to go the competition was far from over. Finishing on a whopping 90.093%, Jessica was the only rider able to achieve a higher score than her teammate Isabell and stole the gold medal, pushing Lottie Fry down into bronze medal position.
The final standings…
Gold: Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB – 90.093%
Silver: Isabell Werth and Wendy – 89.614%
Bronze: Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale – 88.971%
- Dinja van Liere and Hermes – 88.432%
- Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Freestyle – 88.093%
- Carl Hester and Fame – 85.161%
- Daniel Bachmann Andersen and Vayron – 84.850%
- Becky Moody and Jagerbomb – 84.357%
- Nanna Skodborg Merral and Zepter – 83.293%
- Isabel Freese and Total Hope Old – 83.050%
