Dalera and von Bredow-Werndl Secure Individual Gold Again

Defending champions, Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and her great mare TSF Dalera BB, secured the Individual Olympic Dressage title for the second time in a row at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Versailles (FRA) today.

At the Tokyo 2020 Games they claimed gold ahead of team-mate Isabell Werth riding Bella Rose. And once again this afternoon it was Werth who had to settle for the silver medal spot, this time with her magical new mare Wendy.

Bronze today went to Great Britain’s Charlotte Fry and the stallion Glamourdale as spectators in the packed stands witnessed horse after horse producing their very best performances in the final. But it was far from clear if the defending champions were in good enough form to repeat their Tokyo victory as the action got underway.

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Yesterday, they helped their country to secure the Olympic Dressage Team title for a spectacular 15th time, albeit by only the narrowest of margins ahead of Team Denmark. However, Dalera and her rider didn’t demonstrate the harmony that has been the trademark of the glorious successes they have enjoyed in recent years, and that left a question mark over what they could do today.

The doubters were put right back in their place, however, by a copybook Freestyle that wasn’t just technically brilliant, but also sparkled with lightness and mutual understanding, leading to their winning score of 90.093%.

Joyous

Werth was second to go in the final group of six, and her test with Wendy was a joyous celebration of this new-found partnership who simply seem to be made for each other. They were clearly having fun as they posted their score of 89.614% to put it up to the remaining four.

Fry and Glamourdale followed, posting 88.971% on the board, and when The Netherlands’ Dinja van Liere and Hermes scored 88.432% there were only two left to challenge for gold.

From the moment von Bredow-Werndl and Dalera set off it was a completely different picture to what they shown the day before, the mare bouncing off the arena surface and responding to her rider’s every invisible instruction with ease and grace. The scores came tumbling in, getting higher and higher as the test progressed, and by the time they came to the end they were earning 10s across the board to bring them to 90.093% – only 0.479 points ahead of compatriot Werth but very definitely in the lead. The score was just 1.639 less than her winning one in Tokyo where she posted 91.732%.

Von Bredow-Werndl was not convinced she had done enough, however, because Denmark’s Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and her new ride Freestyle were still to go and they had been so impressive over the previous days, including taking top spot in the Grand Prix Special that decided the team medals. “The minutes when Cathrine was riding were very exhausting – I died several times!”, von Bredow-Werndl said afterwards. But, with 88.093%, Laudrup-Dufour settled into fifth place in the final analysis, and the gold medal was back around the defending champion’s neck.

Three women on a podium with their medals.

(L-r) Isabell Werth (GER), Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (GER), Lottie Fry (GBR) on the podium following the Grand Prix Freestyle. (FEI/Benjamin Clark)

Pressure

She admitted that the pressure of going last of her team had affected her performance yesterday and that she really had to pull herself together to put things right this afternoon.

“Today I woke up and I thought, okay, it’s all about trust, we are enough and I have to trust myself and I have to trust Dalera. It was about letting go, to surrender.”

She kept her preparation to the minimum, so much so that the mare didn’t even break into a sweat all day. “I didn’t even do a whole pirouette in the warm up – she went in (to the arena) with dry hair and came out with dry hair!”

In the end it was all about controlling her own mentality so that both she and her horse could give their very best. “This was a mental game,” she pointed out.

Talking about her ride, she said Dalera “was 1,000% with me, she had no ear or eye anywhere else than me, she was listening so carefully and she really showed me that this is what she wants to do and this is why it makes me so emotional because I don’t know if I will ever get another horse like her. She’s the most intelligent horse I’ve ever had, she is out of this world!” she added.

So close

Werth could hardly be disappointed about finishing so close behind her compatriot. She has only been riding the mare Wendy since the beginning of this year and their partnership is literally improving with every outing together. They have been wonderful to watch in Versailles over the last week.

Talking about being pipped at the post by her team-mate, the multiple medallist – who herself took individual Olympic gold with Gigolo in Atlanta in 1996 – said, “We (Team Germany) had the luck on our side yesterday, the Danish team also could have won, and today I’m really happy with the result because at the end it’s a lucky punch for Jessie and a bit unlucky for me, that’s how it goes. But both horses were fantastic, we had such a high standard in the competition. The first starter had 80% already so I think it was just fantastic. And for me, with this horse, and in this atmosphere, I don’t feel that I lost anything!”

Proud

Bronze medallist Fry said she was very proud of Glamourdale. “I 100% knew he was capable of it, but to be able to pull it off in there today and get the bronze is just incredible. The support from the crowd was amazing and the prize-giving was just insane! That feeling going around with Jessica and Isabell – two idols and huge inspirations in our sport – was just incredible! I didn’t watch anybody after my test, I knew they were all very good. I didn’t want to disappoint myself so I was just happy with my ride. We were on our way back to the stables and I just thought we better check the scores before we decided to start packing up and suddenly there was screaming going on and we realised we had the bronze so it was so exciting!” she said.

“When we became World Champions (individual in 2022) it was also quite unexpected, but I knew Glamourdale was always capable, and having it all come together on the day at the right time here is a very special thing. This is just as special for me, maybe even more special to have this Paris 2024 Olympic medal – it’s just so cool!”

Dressage has attracted huge attention at these Olympic Games with celebrities including American rapper and record producer Snoop Dogg coming to see Britain’s Becky Moody in action yesterday and Canadian actor Ryan Gosling dropping in today. They all saw super sport.

Asked what her plans are now for Dalera, the newly re-crowned Individual Olympic champion von Bredow-Werndl said that the mare will compete a few more times this year and then retire to breed some foals in the spring.

Filled with emotion she said, “I owe her so much. I love her and I will spoil her until the last day of her life.”

FULL RESULTS here.