Germany’s Isabell Werth continued a quarter-century of domination of Dressage at the World Equestrian Games at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, North Carolina, but has shared the headlines with the weather.
Although Hurricane Florence has not hit the venues directly, the heavy rainfall has led to the cancellation of the Endurance competition all together (scheduled for 12 September) as well as the cancellation of the Dressage Grand Prix Freestyle, scheduled for 16 September. According to the Federation Equestre International (FEI), “The possibility of holding the Competition in the indoor arena with a change of footing was logistically impossible, while the horse departure flight on Monday could not be delayed or rescheduled.” Competition will resume on Monday (17th)
Werth, now 49, led Germany to its second straight Team Dressage title and 11th in the last 12 editions of the World Equestrian Games, dating back to 1974 (as West Germany). Werth has been on five of those winning teams, as well as the bronze winners in 2010.
Great Britain finished second, their third straight medal in the World Equestrian Games in this event, and the U.S. was third, the first in Team Dressage for the U.S. since 2006.
In the Dressage Grand Prix Special, Werth (on Bella Rose) won her fourth world title – also in 1994, 1998 and 2006 – ahead of Laura Graves of the U.S. (on Verdades), with defending champion Charlotte Dujardin (GBR, on Mount St. John Freestyle) third. It was the first World Equestrian Games medal for Graves.
The remaining schedule (as planned) of the medal sessions:
∙ Jumping:
21 September Team Competition
23 September Individual Competition
∙ Eventing:
17 September Jumping segment
∙ Driving:
23 September Team and Individual
∙ Vaulting:
19 September Team Freestyle Final
20 September Pas-de-Deux Final
23 September Freestyle Finals for Men, Women, Squad
NBC has extensive coverage of the WEG, weather permitting, on NBC, NBCSN and the NBC Olympic Channel; the schedule is here. Look for results here. Summaries so far:
World Equestrian Games
Mill Spring, North Carolina (USA) ~ 11-23 September 2018
(Full results here)
Dressage/Grand Prix Special: 1. Isabell Werth (GER, on Bella Rose), 86.246; 2. Laura Graves (USA, on Verdades), 81.717; 3. Charlotte Dujardin (GBR, on Mount St. John Freestyle), 81.489; 4. Sonke Rothenberger (GER), 81.277; 5. Patrik Kittel (SWE), 79.726; 6. Kasey Perry-Glass (USA), 78.541; 7. Edward Gal (NED), 77.751; 8. Juliette Ramel (SWE), 77.751.
Dressage/Grand Prix Freestyle: cancelled.
Dressage/Team: 1. Germany (von Bredlow-Warndl, Schneider, Rothenberger, Werth), 242.950; 2. United States (Steffen Peters, Adrienne Lyle, Kasey Perry-Glass, Laura Graves), 233.136; 3. Great Britain (Wilson, Faurie, Hester, Dujardin), 229.628; 4. Sweden, 229.456; 5. Netherlands, 223.664; 6. Spain, 220.186; 7. Denmark, 216.584; 8. Australia, 210.016.
Reining: 1. Bernard Fonck (BEL, on What a Wave), 227.0; 2. Daniel Huss (USA, on Ms Dreamy), 226.5; 3. Cade McCutcheon (USA, on Custom Made Gun), 225.0; 4. Joao Andrade C.S. Lacerda (BRA), 225.0; 5. Manuel Cortesi (ITA), 224.5; 6. Martin Muhlstatter (AUT), 224.5; 7. Thiago Boechat (BRA), 223.0; 8. Grischa Ludwig (GER), 222.5. Also: 18. Casey Dreary (USA), 219.0; 19. Jordan Larson (USA), 215.0.
Reining/Team: 1. United States (Casey Deary, Cade McCutcheon, Daniel Huss, Jordan Larson), 681.0; 2. Belgium (Verschuren, Poels, Baeck, Fonck), 671.5; 3. Germany (Ludwig, Suchting, Schoeller, Schumacher), 666.5; 4. Austria, 666.0; 5. Brazil, 664.5.
