After two thrilling days of sport, the FEI Para Dressage World Championship Team Final competition in Aachen (GER) culminated today with Team USA reigning supreme.
It came down to the final rotation of Athletes in Grade IV to decide the silver medal, with the home nation Germany coming out on top ahead of the Netherlands, who took bronze.
The top seven teams other than hosts USA also confirmed qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics. As well as Germany and the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, France and Sweden can also plan for LA28.
Team USA prove unbeatable
FEI Para Dressage Team champions Marie Vonderheyden on Fan Tastico H, Fiona Howard and Diamond Dunes, Rebecca Hart riding Floratina and Kate Shoemaker with Vianne of the USA proved an unbeatable squad. The Paris 2024 Paralympic champions threw down an unassailable and historic score of 236.135 across the two days of competition in Aachen to capture the gold medal in spectacular fashion.
“We all have high expectations of ourselves, and we know that they don’t always come to fruition, but to come here at the World Championship and for the team to produce a record for the highest ever team score is just incredible,” Chef d’Equipe Michel Assouline said of his team’s performance.
There was yet another podium place in Aachen for hosts Germany, with Heidemarie Dresing and Poesie 143, Helen Brandt on Vulkan Vegas IB, Anna-Lena Niehues with Vive l’Amour, and Regine Mispelkamp riding Highlander Delight’s securing silver on home soil, finishing on a total score of 229.875.
“I’m completely thrilled and super pleased with everyone – they all delivered a truly mega performance,” Silke Fütterer-Sommer, Germany’s chef d’equipe, remarked on their performance.
Bronze went to the Dutch team of Annemarieke Nobel with Doo Schufro, Tessa Baaijens-Van de Vrie and Happy Grace, Rixt van der Horst riding Eisma’s Royal Fonq N.O.P. and Britney de Jong on Caramba N.O.P., who produced a team total of 227.639. (Canada, represented by Jody Schloss/El Colorado, Bert Sheffield/Nardando, Laura Hall/Istrano and Eleanore Elstone/Szecrecy HP finished in 12th place overall with 205.622.)
“I’m very proud of the team to be up on the podium, but I am most proud of the fact that each of the riders could ride the test they had in their mind,” Chef d’Equipe Noortje Radstake said.
“We’re also very happy that we secured our ticket to the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics – if that is all we had achieved this week, I would have been delighted.”
Grade V glory
With the early morning chill in the air, the Grade V competition got underway at 08:00 local time and it was another impressive performance from Individual gold medallist Regine Mispelkamp and Highlander Delight’s, who finished their final salute on a score of 75.737%. As well as the pressure that comes with competing for your country, the German was also competing with a broken foot she sustained innocuously stepping down from a chair.
“It’s sore but it is better now than it was on the first day of competition,” Mispelkamp said stoically of her unexpected injury.
Speaking of her 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding’s performance, she said: “He felt like he was flying in there – he was so super and focused on me and in the canter section he felt like he had grown wings, it was so light and balanced.”
The Netherlands’ Britney de Jong was looking imperious until Caramba N.O.P. uncharacteristically broke into canter during the medium trot, but was delighted with her result nonetheless.
“It felt fantastic. We don’t normally have that mistake, but I put it to the back of my mind and was so happy with how the test went after that,” De Jong remarked about her score of 74.605% with the 19-year-old gelding, who is competing at his first and last FEI Para Dressage World Championship before retirement.
“It felt great to be able to put in a good score for the team today, although the pressure was off me a bit thanks to my teammates producing such great results,” De Jong said of the team score.
Sweden saw its first top-three placing of the competition thanks to Lena Malmström and Fabulous Fidelie’s harmonious test, which had them finish on a score of 73.974% for the third-best Grade V score.
“Although the test wasn’t perfect, she gave me such a good feeling, she was so soft and in harmony with me,” Malmström said about her ride on the 14-year-old Swedish Warmblood mare.
“Just being in Aachen has been amazing, but Sweden have also done enough to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics and that was our goal, so that is really great,” she commented of her country’s eighth-placed finish in the Team competition.
Barrier-breaking performance for Shoemaker
In the final competition of the Team event, the top scorer in Grade IV was the USA’s Kate Shoemaker and Vianne – the first combination to break the 80% barrier in this FEI Para Dressage World Championship so far. The Individual gold medallists from earlier this week finished on an incredible 80.460%.
“I’m completely thrilled with that,” Shoemaker beamed of her result with the 10-year-old Hanoverian mare.
“For me, the thing that was most important to me coming into Aachen was the team result. This is really special to me because being in Paris as an individual rider, watching my teammates go up on the podium was a really proud moment, but this time I get the chance to stand on the podium with them,” she said emotionally.
Germany’s Anna-Lena Niehues was second best in Grade IV aboard Vive l’Amour with a new personal best score of 76.405%.
“It was a really great performance today, I felt at one with her and everything went perfectly in the test,” Niehues commented of her result with the nine-year-old Westphalian mare.
“It’s always important to put in a good performance for the team, but I always try my best and again, the best happened today. Plus we have qualified for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics, so that is a brilliant result.”
France also saw their first top-three result of the competition today, with Vladimir Vinchon and Pegase Mayenne posting their best-ever score of 75.216%. That helped propel the French to seventh overall.
“It’s truly wonderful. Pegase Mayenne is a fantastic horse and my scores both in the individual competition and today are higher than what I scored in the 2024 Paris Paralympics so I’m very happy with this World Championship performance,” Vinchon said of his performance with the 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding.
Full results here.
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