GERMANY won their 26th gold medal at the FEI Dressage European Championship in Crozet (FRA) on Thursday in a tense battle with Britain who had to settle for silver ahead of Denmark in bronze.

Jiva Hill Stables is hosting the championship and it was clear from the off on Wednesday that it would come down to Germany and Britain - two dressage superpowers - battling for the top step on the podium. It all came down to Isabel Werth and Charlotte Fry and, in the end, it was the legendary Werth with Wendy de Fontaine who clinched the gold for Germany.

Werth was first to go with Wendy de Fontaine and, riding with all her trademark professionalism, she produced a fault-free performance. Without taking the very last risks, but with a mare of such outstanding quality, Werth could afford to play it safe. The scoreboard showed 79.224%, the second-highest score of the team competition.

That left Fry, who needed 78.728% with Glamourdale to put Britain ahead. They entered the arena boldly, with Fry riding full of risk in the extensions. But the daring strategy also brought mistakes; Glamourdale spooked after the canter strike-off, the piaffes lacked a little conviction, and balance was lost in the first pirouette. The final mark of 75.869% was still an excellent result, but left the defending champions with silver.

Germany back on top

The German victory marked their 26th team gold in the history of the European Championships.

Werth expressed relief and joy, saying: “The competition was completely open, anything could happen, so we’re very happy and satisfied with the result. It was fun, tense and a really good mix of everything! I’m glad we made it, but it was also just a lucky day.”

The gold-winning team consisted of Werth and Wendy de Fontaine, Katharina Hemmer with Denoix PCH, Frederic Wandres with Bluetooth OLD and Ingrid Klimke with Vayron NRW. Their combined score of 229.644% put them at the top of the leaderboard.

Britain lost Andrew Gould to elimination on the first day. It was their veteran Carl Hester who produced the team’s best score in his 13th European Championship appearance. With Fame he posted 76.087%. Together with Fry’s 75.869% and Becky Moody’s 74.829%, the team ended on 226.785% for silver.

The highest score of the entire Grand Prix came from Denmark’s Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St John Freestyle. Their 80.823% was untouchable, securing bronze for Denmark.

On Friday afternoon, Belgium’s Justin Verboomen made history in the Grand Prix Special when winning Belgium’s first-ever European medal. Riding Zonik Plus, his score of 82.371% saw off Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St John Freestyle who had a mistake in the one-time tempi changes to take the silver medal with a score of 81.687%. Werth stood on the final step of the podium aboard Wendy when scoring 79.027%.

There are no Irish athletes at this year’s dressage European Championships.