Denmark started in just one leg of the 2026 FEI Dressage Nations Cup™ series, but they made it count.
Led by chef d’equipe Susie Dannemand, the four-rider squad of Anna Zibrandtsen (Quel Filou), Daniel Bachmann Andersen (Flash Gordon 37), Nadja Aaboe Sloth (Favour Gersdorf), and Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour (Mount St John Freestyle) topped the season finale in impressive fashion Saturday at the Falsterbo Horse Show (SWE).
The winning team finished well in front, putting up a total score of 229.653 in the CDIO5* Grand Prix test. It was a closer race for second, with the home nation of Sweden earning runner-up honors (212.609), followed by Germany (211.000).
“We are getting ready for the World Championships, and we just wanted to see how these four could do together,” Dannemand said. “I’m super happy with the result we have achieved here today.”
Denmark’s riders produced three of the top five individual scores on the day, but Laudrup-Dufour was undoubtedly the standout. Aboard Mount St John Freestyle, her Olympic silver medal-winning partner from the 2026 Paris Games, Laudrup-Dufour executed a test that received a score of 83.718% from the judges—close to a personal best. The accomplished duo excelled in their canter work, receiving numerous 10s for passage. It was a statement-making test.
“I was really, really pleased with [my horse] today,” Laudrup-Dufour said. “She’s mega-performed so many times, and it’s always a little bit tricky trying to optimize something that is really, really nice already. But of course, there are things that we are working on at home, and we’ve been trying to improve the feeling from the piaffe and how I’m coming in and out, and that’s probably the best thing about my ride today, that I really felt that I could improve something.”
Bachmann Andersen finished second individually and produced a personal best aboard Flash Gordon 37. The pair scored 74.000% in the 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding’s team debut.
“This horse is very new. He’s in his first season at the International Grand Prix [level], and this was just his fourth FEI Grand Prix, so I’m extremely proud of him,” Bachmann Andersen said. “He is still a little bit shy in the ring, especially in the beginning of the test…I believe he has all the quality that is needed to become a top, top horse.”
Bachmann Andersen has championships in his sights after making his Olympic debut in Paris with Vayron NRW.
“I’m really, really happy and feeling really lucky that I have the opportunity to keep [Flash Gordon 37]. I’ve always had horses that sold just before or after major Championships, but this horse is secured for me for the next two years, so that feels really amazing. Let’s see what the future will bring.”
The final contributing score for their team, Sloth and Favour Gersdorf rode to a score of 71.935%. Denmark was the only nation to have all four of its riders score above 70 percent, even before a drop score was recorded.
“I’m really happy with my teammates,” Laudrup-Dufour said. “Dressage is an individual sport, so to be able to create a team feeling, especially coming up on the [World Championships], I think it brings us a little bit closer, and already we’re working on the feeling that we want to present as a team in Germany.”
Germany, who will host the FEI World Dressage Championships at Aachen in August, ultimately finished the season atop the standings with 47 points, earning its fourth consecutive series title. Belgium finished second (29), followed by Sweden (24). Germany captured wins at both CDIO5* Fontainebleau (FRA) and Hagen (GER) this season.
“This is a big thank you to our colleagues from Germany who achieved this success for us, and it is a pleasure that we can take it for them, and it’s an honor,” said Moritz Treffinger, Germany’s anchor rider in Falsterbo. “We had a quite nice and exciting series with new combinations, new horses, [and] young horses coming up. It’s really exciting, and we are really looking forward to the next season with the young horses. They are developing really good, and we are really proud of them and grateful for them.”
FULL results here.
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