Isabell Werth & Weihegold Confirmed as World No. 1, Carl Hester & Nip Tuck Move to Fifth Spot
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Nov. 1, 2016
Isabell Werth and Weihegold OLD were confirmed as world No. 1 in the latest International Equestrian Federation rankings released Tuesday to cap a year in which the German rider earned her 10th Olympic medal, more than any other equestrian.
Carl Hester on his Olympic mount Nip Tuck moved up to world No. 5, the highest ranking for the British team silver medal pair from both Rio de Janeiro and the 2015 European Championships.
The rankings can be seen here.
Isabell, 47 years old, and her 11-year-old Oldenburg mare, who followed up their team gold and individual silver at Rio with victories at the World Cup in Lyon, France last weekend, accumulated 2,869 points to jump ahead of Olympic team mates Kristina Bröring-Sprehe and Desperados FRH that became No. 1 in January.
Isabell, the mother of a son, Frederik, who celebrated his seventh birthday last month, earned the top spot based on the best eight results over the past year. She took over the ride on Weihegold, an 11-year-old Oldenburg mare, at the end of January after the horse was successful at small tour and developing Grand Prix when ridden by Beatrice Buchwald, an assistant trainer to Isabell at the time.
The partnership between Isabell and Weihegold was not even ranked at the beginning of this year and their first place in the standings was at 480 at the end of January after first and sixth placings in a World Cup event in Amsterdam.
This year has been one of the most memorable for Isabell who competed in her fifth Olympics (1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2016) and bringing her tally of medals to 10, six of them gold, more than any other equestrian in more than a century of horse sports at the Games.
The last time she was No. 1 was in July 2009 with Satchmo, her 2008 Olympic team gold medal horse.
German Olympic team mates Kristin and Desperados and Dorothee Schneider on Showtime FRH were in the second and third places, respectively.
Laura Graves and Verdades remained the top American combination in fourth as they were the previous month while Steffen Peters and Legolas were ranked No. 7.
Severo Jurado Lopez and Lorenzo, who won the opening leg of the World Cup series in Odense, Denmark two weeks ago jumped four places to No. 10 while Beatriz Ferrer-Salat on Delgado dropped to eighth from five but still giving Spain two spots in the top 10.
