Normandy (FRA) 24 August - 07 September 2014

Five years earlier Totilas had started something that would change the sport of Dressage forever. The traditionalists didn’t always approve, but the stallion’s fabulous movement, power and presence had moved the sport into the realms of entertainment and attracted a whole new audience who found his performances with Gal simply mesmerising.

Now competing under the German flag however, his late withdrawal from the line-up in Normandy would mean that the much-anticipated clash with Charlotte Dujardin’s gelding Valegro, holder of all three top scores in Grand Prix, Grand Prix Special and Freestyle and double-gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games, would never happen. The confidence of the British pair was in question after an uncharacteristically poor showing in Aachen just a few weeks earlier, but they were right back where they belonged in Caen, taking both the Special and Freestyle titles and helping their country secure team silver.

Team gold was never in doubt, Germany’s Kristina Sprehe (Desperados), Fabienne Lutkemeier (D’Agostino), Isabell Werth (Bella Rose) and Helen Langehanenberg (Damon Hill NRW) clinching it for the 11th time in convincing fashion. But the British needed Dujardin’s top score to slip into silver medal spot and push the Dutch, who lost two of their best horses in the lead-up to the Games, down to bronze and the Americans off the podium.

Dujardin’s Grand Prix Special test had mistakes, but she just made up for them by asking Valegro to be even more brilliant in subsequent movements and of course her “horse with heart of gold” obliged, pinning Germany’s Langehanenberg and Sprehe into silver and bronze. And the podium was similar after the Freestyle, the British rider standing in pole position with Langehanenberg in second but this time with The Netherlands Adelinde Cornellisen (Jerich Parzival) in third. Dujardin and Valegro now held the full complement of world Dressage titles.

German riders gave a master class at the finale of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ Eventing competition to take the team title. All four combinations, Sandra Auffarth (Opgun Louvo), Michael Jung (Fischerocanna FST), Ingrid Klimke (SAP Escada FRH) and Dirk Schrade (Hop and Skip) – were flawless over the coloured poles and, to put the icing on the cake, Auffarth and Jung claimed individual gold and silver. In the lead after Dressage they couldn’t be budged, and only Britain’s William Fox-Pitt (Chilli Morning) prevented complete German domination of the medals by taking individual bronze behind 2010 world champion, Jung.

The British moved into team silver medal position after four fantastic clears over Pierre Michelet’s challenging cross-country track, although their day was darkened by the tragic loss of Harry Meade’s Wild Lone who collapsed and died after the finish. Fox-Pitt held the individual lead going into the last day, but a mistake at the second showjumping fence cost him dearly and he had to yield to his German rivals.

An interesting battle ensued for team bronze. The Australians held third place after cross country but lost it at a strike with an unfortunate 24-fault round from Shane Rose and Taurus and when the French failed to benefit from this, racking up too many faults, it was the Dutch who rode for their lives to deservedly take their place on the third step of the podium, the country’s first ever Eventing medal at world championship level.

An electric atmosphere in the 21,000-seat arena fully justified the decision to transport the horses from the Dressage and Cross Country venue into the D’Ornano Stadium in Caen for the Jumping finale as the capacity crowd really got into the spirit of the occasion.

Australia’s Boyd Exell kept a clear head in the exciting final obstacle driving competition to secure a third world championship, and second WEG, title in a row. America’s Chester Weber claimed the silver and European champion Theo Timmerman from The Netherlands took the bronze medal. The Dutch team, consisting of Timmerman, Ijsbrand Chardon and Koos de Ronde, won the team competition for the fourth consecutive time, followed by Germany and Hungary.

Germany’s Christoph Sandmann won the thrilling Marathon phase ahead of compatriot Georg von Stein but reigning world champion Exell, second after Dressage, moved to the top of the individual leaderboard when finishing third. The gravel footing of La Prairie racecourse in Caen guaranteed equal conditions from beginning to end for all of the 46 four-in-hand drivers in the Marathon. Over 15,000 spectators enjoyed wonderful driving sport in ideal weather conditions and gigantic screens placed all around the venue and the live broadcast allowed spectators to follow their favourite competitors as they drove through the eight beautifully built obstacles.

O-Course Designer Richard Nicoll presented a superb marathon course, and the top nine after dressage and marathon did not change after the cones competition which attracted some 3,000 spectators. Fourth-placed driver IJsbrand Chardon (NED) drove a clear round and put compatriot Theo Timmerman under pressure. Timmerman only had a 0.5 penalty point advantage over Chardon and knew that he had to go clear to secure bronze.

Weber was the penultimate starter and, just 2.77 penalty points behind Exell, was determined to put the pressure on the Australian and drove a double clear round. Exell entered the arena knowing he had to stay clear in order to retain the world title and, true horseman that he is, kept a cool head to clinch it.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum (UAE) and the outstanding mare Yamamah, meaning “little dove” in Arabic, led from the start to finish to win the individual gold medal at a challenging Endurance competition in Sartilly to take over the world title from his father, Sheikh Mohammed.

European Champion Jaume Punti Dachs (ESP) finished fifth on Novisaad d’Aqui and led home his jubilant compatriots Jordi Arboix Santacreu, sixth on Mystair des Aubus, and Cervera Sanchez-Arnedo (Strawblade, 22nd) to take team gold.

There was much national excitement when the home side, France, took silver, with Jean-Philippe Frances (Secret de Mon), Franck Laousse (Niky de la Fontaine) and Nicolas Ballarin (Lemir de Gargassan) finishing eighth, 11th and 12th respectively. The Swiss trio of Barbara Lissarrague on Preume de Paute, fourth individually, Sonja Fritschi (Okkarina d’Alsace) and Andrea Amacher (Rustik d’Alsace) claimed team bronze.

The Netherlands’ Marijke Visser (NED) was visibly thrilled with second place and an individual silver medal with the UAE-owned grey gelding Laiza de Jalima. Qatari rider Abdulrahman Saad AS Al Sulaiteen and Koheilan Kincso also finished strongly to take bronze ahead of Switzerland’s Barbara Lissarrague on Preume de Paute.

America’s Shawn Flarida galloped to gold in the Individual Reining Final in which US riders filled every step of the podium. Partnering the seven-year-old Spooks Gotta Whiz, the 45-year-old reiner produced a super score of 233.5 to put the result beyond doubt when last to go. And his team gold medal winning compatriots from earlier in the week, Andrea Fappani and Mandy McCutcheon, clinched silver and bronze.

This was the USA’s fourth consecutive World Reining team title, Belgium clinching the silver and Austria the bronze. It was always going to take something special to pin the Americans back in the individual finale. McCutcheon set a new target when third-last to go with Yellow Jersey but the penultimate partnership of Andrea Fappani and Custom Cash Advance overtook them before Flarida rode into the arena to knock everyone else out of the park.

The crowd went wild as he galloped through the entrance gate to his first halt and back up. They got even wilder as he put together four spins to the right, four and one-quarter spins to the left and then circles, fast and slow, at each end of the arena, with the lead-changes crucial to a strong score. The noise level was near-deafening as he brought the pattern to its conclusion with run downs and rollbacks before the final sliding stop. When the commentator confirmed his score of 233.5 the spectators nearly lifted the roof off the arena in a show of appreciation.

Britain’s Joanne Eccles claimed back-to-back gold in the Female Individual, Jacques Ferrari and Nicolas Andreani set the home crowd alight when scooping gold and silver for France in the Male Individual, Austria’s Jasmin Lindner and Lukas Wacha stole the show in the Pas de Deux Final and Team Germany once again scooped the Squad honours.

Bling and glitter, razzmatazz and showmanship were at the maximum in the Zenith Stadium, but so was the pure skill of the world’s best vaulting athletes, and the packed stadium of spectators loved every moment of it. At times the noise was so loud they had to be asked to restrain themselves, but when it came to the medal ceremonies they let rip, especially when Ferrari registered the first gold medal of the Games for the host nation. Germany’s Erik Oese took Individual Male bronze.

Eccles was in a league of her own when claiming the Female title for the second time in a row. The smoothness, fluidity, lightness and athleticism that already earned her near-legendary status, along with a huge following of fans, saw her racking up big marks once again on the final day, her signature one-handed cartwheel and handstand demonstrating the physical strength that lay behind a picture of pure elegance. Italy’s Anna Cavallaro filled silver medal spot and Switzerland’s Simon Jaiser took the bronze.

Joining her sister Hannah, Eccles also claimed bronze in the Pas de Deux won by Lindner and Wacher who posted a massive score to leave the result beyond doubt in the final Freestyle, pinning Germany’s Pia Engelberty and Torben Jacobs into silver medal position.

The Squad finale was a thriller from start to finish but Germany’s Janika Derks, Johannes Kay, Julia Dammer, Milena Hiemann, Mona Pavetic and Pauline Riedl were undisputed champions. Team Switzerland took silver and the bronze medal winners from France received a standing ovation.