Olympic Grand Prix Special Team Final Order of Go for Eight Nations–New Format

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Sabine Schut-Kery on Sanceo is the anchor rider for the United States in the Olympic Grand Prix Special to decide team medals in Tokyo. © 2021 Lily Forado for dressage-news.com

July 26, 2021

Tuesday’s order of go for the eight nations each with three riders and horses for the Olympic Grand Prix Special was released Monday with a new format that provides for the combinations in the last group to compete in the order of the team standings after the first two rides in the medal event.

The format provides for the first two riders/horses for each nation to go in the order in which teams finished after two days of Grand Prix–Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Netherlands, United States, Denmark, Great Britain and Germany. The teams start with a clean slate and all three rides of each team count, with no drop score.

The event begins at 17:00 local time/4 a.m. US Eastern time/10:00 Central European time. The schedule provides 10 minutes for each ride. That means the first 16 pairs will have completed their rides by 19:55 local, time/6:55 a.m. US Eastern time/12:55 CET.

The competition will resume after a break of 60 minutes in the order in which the teams stand at that time.

If, for example, the team standings after the first two rides by each nation are the same as the initial order of go, the last eight rides would be in the following order (the highest scoring combinations from the Grand Prix):

1. Beatriz Ferrer-Salat/Elegance – Spain
2. Rodrigo Torres/Fogoso – Portuga
3. Therese Nilshagen/Dante Weltino – Sweden
4. Edward Gal/ Total US – Netherlands
5. Sabine Schut-Kery/Sanceo – USA
6. Cathrine Dufour/Bohemian – Denmark
7. Charlotte Dujardin/Gio – Great Britain
8. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl/TSF Dalera

Germany is seeking its 14th team gold medal since the first dressage team competition at the 1928 Olympics. France took team gold in 1932 and 1948, Sweden in 1952 and 1956, Russia/USSR in 1972 and 1980 and Great Britain in 2012.

Isabell Werth of Germany on Tuesday could earn her 11th Olympic medal. With the 10 she already has (six gold, four silver), Isabell has more Olympic medals than any other equestrian in the history of the Olympics. An 11th medal would place her in the top 25 of all-time Olympic medalists.

The Grand Prix Freestyle of 18 rider/horse combinations to decide individual medals is scheduled for Wednesday.

The official order of go for the Grand Prix Special team competition (available in PDF format by clicking on link at bottom of page):

For PDF version, click on link: Olympic Grand Prix Special Order of Go