London by Landos-Quinar (Ocke Riewerts, Föhr), line 3200, and Laura Collett (GBR) have already made history on day one of the Olympic Games in Paris: In the eventing dressage, the pair achieved the best dressage result ever recorded in Olympic history with just 17.5 penalty points!
Team-mate Tom McEwen and JL Dublin by Diarado-Canto (Volker Götsche-Götze, Groß Buchwald), line 1907, also delivered a strong performance (-25.8/11th place), meaning Great Britain will head into tomorrow’s cross-country as the leading team. Germany follows in second place, with two Holsteiners also performing outstandingly for the team: Nickel by Numero Uno-Lorentin I (Hindrick Stüvel, Rosengarten), line 4303, and Julia Krajewski (-26.9/15th place) and Carjatan S by Clearway-Galant vert xx (Carl-Friedrich Söhrmann, Groß Buchwald), line 6788, and Christoph Wahler (-29.4/21st place).
Crossborder Radar Love by Diarado-Claudio’s Son (Hindrick Stüvel, Rosengarten), line 6786, and Raf Kooremans (NED) also have very good prospects with 27 penalty points. The pair are in 16th place after the dressage.
As the German team had drawn the number one starting position, Julia Krajewski on Nickel was the very first to start. The fanfare player who opened the equestrian competition hadn’t quite finished yet when Krajewski was already being let into the arena. Fortunately, Nickel kept his nerve, as did his rider, when the bell rang but the countdown timer hadn’t started yet. Horse and rider normally have 45 seconds between the bell ringing and entering the arena. “I’d worked it all out down to the last detail,” Krajewski said later. “And then I just managed to get round and in. I think the judge was quicker than the organising team. But then I thought to myself, ‘Come on now, it doesn’t matter anymore.’” It was the right decision, as the pair managed to set a personal best at the crucial moment: 26.9 penalty points – “That’s actually quite solid for the first starter,” said Krajewski, praising his horse: “He always wants to do everything right. Even when he’s not quite sure of himself, like in the corner at C, where he took a bit of a detour. But he still made the transition well and still listens to me, which is worth a great deal.”
Christoph Wahler followed Krajewski as the second German rider. His ride on Carjatan S got off to a brilliant start, but during the medium walk the grey suddenly tried to bolt. “I’ve known this horse for so long now, and things like that can happen. I can’t change it in that moment either. I’ve stopped blaming myself when it happens. He’s been ultra-relaxed here all these days.” He added that the horse had largely been with him throughout the rest of the test: “It’s just that sometimes he’s a bit ‘cheerful’,” said Wahler.
An overview of the results:
Photo: Stefan Lafrentz (London and Laura Collett)
