GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Aug. 15, 2017–The European Championships dressage begins in a week with 17 teams and five individuals from 21 countries entered and Germany with two of its 2016 Olympic gold medal combinations hot favorites to return to the top of the medals podium.
A total of 69 combinations from 21 countries have been confirmed as definite entries for the championships held once every two years, with the Nations Cup first being staged in 1965. Germany won the first 21 team championships, but the string was broken in 2007 when the Netherlands won for the first time and has since added two more titles, including the last time at Aachen, Germany in 2015.
This year, however, Germany led by world No. 1 Isabell Werth on Weihegold OLD, her Olympic team gold and individual silver mount with Games team mate Sönke Rothenberger on Cosmo along with top riders Dorothee Schneider on Sammy Davis, Jr. and Helen Langehanenberg on Damsey FRH are odds on to avenge the bronze medal awarded in 2015 behind Holland and Britain.
Great Britain is the only other country to have stood atop the European Championships team medals podium which it did at Rotterdam in 2011. Carl Hester on Uthopia placed first individually in the team competition with the rising star partnership of Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro in fourth, a year ahead of the country’s historic victory at the London Olympics and the first dressage medal in a century of the Games. Charlotte and Valegro went on to take gold in the individual and freestyle championships in 2013 and 2015, the horse being retired after capturing their second individual Olympic gold last year.
For Isabell, at 48 years old the most decorated Olympic equestrian in history, this will be her 13th European Championships starting in 1989, winning nine team and five individual gold medals. Weihegold, on whom she also won the Omaha World Cup this year, will be the seventh different horse she has competed in the Europeans.
The lineup of definite entries as of Tuesday:
Austria
MAX-THEURER, Victoria/BLIND DATE 25
NEUMAYER, Astrid/DSP RODRIGUEZ
SCHUMACH, Christian/AUHEIM’S PICARDO
WEINBAUER, Belinda/SÖHNLEIN BRILLIANT MJ
Belarus
IHUMENTSAVA, Volha/ED KHARDY
KARASIOVA, Hanna/ARLEKINO
NIKANORAVA, Ala/VATIKAN
YAFREMAVA, Katsiaryna/LATINO
Belgium
ROOS, Laurence/FIL ROUGE
VERLIEFDEN, Fanny/INDOCTRO V/D STEENBLOK
VERWIMP, Jorinde/TIAMO
Denmark
DUFOUR, Cathrine/ATTERUPGAARDS CASSIDY
KASPRZAK, Anna/DONNPERIGNON
KIRK THINGGAARD, Agnete/JOJO AZ
ZIBRANDTSEN, Anna/ARLANDO
Estonia
ELLERMANN, Dina/LANDY’S AKVAREL
PÜVI, Grete/ALEANDRO
Finland
EHRNROOTH, Elisabeth/WIZARD II
LINDH, Mikaela/BELLISSIMO L
NILOSAARI, Niina/KOM RAGDOLL
STEGARS, Terhi/THAI PEE
France
BRETENOUX, Marie Emilie/QUARTZ OF JAZZ
HENRY, Ludovic/AFTER YOU
SERRE, Arnaud/ULTRABLUE DE MASSA
VOLLA, Pierre/BADINDA ALTENA
Georgia
VAUGHAN, Joanne/ELMEGARDENS MARQUIS
Germany
LANGEHANENBERG, Helen/DAMSEY FRH
ROTHENBERGER, Sönke/COSMO
SCHNEIDER, Dorothee/SAMMY DAVIS JR.
WERTH, Isabell/WEIHEGOLD OLD
Great Britain
FAURIE, Emile/WEEKEND FUN
HESTER, Carl/NIP TUCK
HUGHES, Gareth/DON CARISSIMO
WILTON, Spencer/SUPER NOVA II
Hungary
ÁCS, Róbert/RASPUTIN
LOSONCZY, Anikó/MYSTERY
SZALAI, Nikolett/WILLY THE HIT
Ireland
REYNOLDS, Judy/VANCOUVER K
Netherlands
GAL, Edward/GLOCK’S VOICE
MINDERHOUD, Hans Peter/GLOCK’S JOHNSON TN N.O.P.
VAN SILFHOUT, Diederik/FOUR SEASONS 19
WITTE-VREES, Madeleine/CENNIN
Norway
FREESE, Isabel/BORDEAUX 28
Poland
KOZANOWSKI, Przemyslaw/BELCANTO 34
MILCZAREK, Katarzyna/DZEKO
SZULC, Aleksandra/RUMBA HIT
Portugal
CAETANO, Maria/COROADO
FREIRE, Boaventura/SAI BABA PLUS
GODINHO, Vasco Mira/BARILOCHE
PINTO, Daniel/SANTURION DE MASSA
Russia
CHEREDNICHENKO, Stanislav/VOSK
KOSTERINA, Tatyana/DIAVOLESSA VA
MERKULOVA, Inessa/MISTER X
MILOSERDOVA, Tatiana/AWAKENING
Spain
BELMONTE ROLDÁN, Cristobal/DIAVOLO II DE LAUBRY
CASTILLA RUIZ, Claudio/ALCAIDE
DOMINGO COLL, Jordi/MANGO STATESMAN
JURADO LOPEZ, Severo/DEEP IMPACT 3
Sweden
KITTEL, Patrik/DELAUNAY
MATHISEN, Rose/ZUIDENWIND 1187
NILSHAGEN, Therese/DANTE WELTINO OLD
VILHELMSON SILFVÉN, Tinne/PARIDON MAGI
Switzerland
AERNE, Anna-Mengia/RAFFAELO VA BENE
JOANNOU, Antonella/DANDY DE LA ROCHE CMF CH
KRINKE SUSMELJ, Marcela/SMEYERS MOLBERG
LENHERR, Charlotte/DARKO OF DE NIRO ZS CH
Ukraine
GUSAROVA, Oksana/ENRICO
KOVSHOV, Maksim/FLIRT
LOGUTENKOVA, Inna/FLERARO
