Horse Illustrated Magazine

Day 5 of the 2022 FEI World Championships in Denmark was the only day when all four sports were contested on the same day. The competition day started at 8:30 a.m. and ended around midnight. There were medal ceremonies for three grades of para-dressage and for dressage Grand Prix Freestyle too.

2022 FEI World Championships Day 5 Results

Para-dressage Grades I, II and IV began with their team tests. Show jumping started with the 1.55-meter, Table C speed class where faults (such as dropped rails or refusals) were converted into added time to complete the course.

In vaulting there were two competitions, one being the pas de deux free test (the second of two classes for pas de deux during these championships). The other vaulting class was a Nations Cup where the individual men and women and the squad (six people on a squad), from the same country competed with their scores averaged and the highest average score of the nations entered was the winner.

And, last, but very certainly not least, was the amazing dressage freestyle competition that happened last evening. The top-scoring 15 horse and rider combinations from the Grand Prix Special held on Monday (August 8) moved on to tonight’s competition. Watching it was nothing short of fun, fun, fun! The line up for the class included Adrienne Lyle and Salvino from the U.S.A., plus one rider from Spain, two from the Netherlands, two from Germany, three from Great Britain, three from Sweden, and three from Denmark.

The stadium was nearly at capacity and the crowd was very into the action and started rhythmically clapping to the beat as each horse started their last pass down the centerline. The noise was deafening as each rider finished. As the final three riders performed a nearly full orange-hued moon rose over the stadium adding an ethereal quality to evening.

While there have certainly been other notable, record-setting international dressage freestyle performances in the last 10 years or so, the depth of the talent in this freestyle class was very, very impressive. Every horse and rider combination left it all out on the arena floor. It was just flat-out entertaining and the crowd loved it.

The individual gold medalists from Monday, Great Britain’s Charlotte “Lottie” Fry and the uber-attractive black KWPN stallion Glamourdale joined the elite 90%-club, scoring 90.654 % for their dynamic and fun freestyle which earned them another gold tonight. Much like their compatriots Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro 10 years ago, this pair seems unequalled and unstoppable for the foreseeable future. Their test began and ended with the Bryan May version of God Save the Queen and included music from Queen, the Beatles, Genesis, The Verve and Robbie Williams. Fry was over the moon in the press conference and said of her equine partner in the press conference, “This is exactly what Glamourdale was made for.”

Catherine Laudrup-Dufour from Denmark has become a national hero this week with her success as a member of the gold-medal winning Danish Dressage Team, then winning the silver medal in the Grand Prix Special on Monday. Last night her success in the Grand Prix Freestyle earned her another silver (89.411%). Laudrup-Dufour made a similar comment in the press conference saying that the sport is changing, “You can really tell that the horses were born to do this, to dance.”

The bronze medalists in last night’s freestyle, Dinja van Liere and Hermes from the Netherlands, were also a repeat winners from Monday’s Grand Prix Special earning 86.900 % in the Freestyle. Germany’s Benjamin Werndl and Famoso OLD took fourth with 85.893 % and Great Britain’s Gareth Hughes and Classic Briolinca were fifth with 84.043 %.

Lyle and Salvino from the U.S.A. finished a respectable sixth with 83.704%. Patrick Kittel and Touchdown (Sweden) and Daniel Bachmann Anderson (Denmark) were seventh and eighth, respectively.

Germany’s Isabell Werth entered the ring with DSP Quanta and amazed the crowd by stringing together moves that most didn’t realize could be done, such canter pirouettes right into piaffe and other high-degree-of-difficulty transitions. But, on top of the difficulty was the playful and artful incorporation of music by Meatloaf into their highly entertaining freestyle. Ultimately they finished ninth, but the crowd gave them a standing ovation.

Charlotte Dujardin (GBR) and the young, but impressive Imhotep rounded out the top ten in the Freestyle with an 83.132 %. They are ones to watch for Paris 2024!

Stay tuned for more photos and daily updates throughout the 2022 FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark. To see in-depth information for the U.S. competitors, visit US Equestrian’s World Championship hub on their website. For more general information about the Herning Championships, visit their website and download an app to follow the competition. For full results from Day 5 of the 2022 FEI World Championships, click here.