Team GB event rider smashes Olympic record in timely boost after equestrian world rocked by Charlotte Dujardin scandal
TEAM GB event rider Laura Collett has set an Olympic record on the first day of Paris games by gaining the lowest ever score in the dressage phase.
Aboard her bay gelding London 52, the 34-year-old eventer scored a personal best of 17.5 in the opening stage where competitors look to put on foot-perfect performance to gain the lowest score possible.
It currently puts her seven marks clear of her rivals and beats the previous record held by the USA with a score of 19.3 at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
The result will raise hopes of an individual medal as well as a team placing for GB eventing squad.
Laura and her horse ‘Dan’ as he’s known at home have a sparkling record having helped the team take home a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Laura said: “I loved every second of it. That horse [London 52] is unbelievable. What he’s done throughout my whole career is amazing and he just keeps on delivering. I’m just very, very grateful to him.
Speaking about her team-mate’s dressage test, she added: “He [Tom McEwen] really went for it and smashed it out the park, so he gave me that motivation to not leave anything behind and just be brave and try to give it our best shot. Luckily, I’ve got a very willing partner.”
Laura followed her fellow teammate Tom and his horse JL Dublin who scored a respectable 25.8 with the final Team GB score to come from Ros Canter and her horse Lordships Gruffalo.
Eventing consists of three phases completed over a course of three days – a dressage test, the completion of a cross-country course, and on the final day a showjumping round.
Any mistakes will mean riders have penalties or faults added to their scores – the rider with the lowest overall score wins.
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It comes after the equestrian world was rocked by the Charlotte Dujardin horse whipping scandal this week – seeing one of Team GB’s most decorated Olympians withdrawn from the Paris games.
The six-time medallist pulled out after a video emerged of her whipping a horse during a coaching session.
Dujardin has subsequently been suspended and stripped of her funding.
Becky Moody and her horse Jagerbomb have replaced Dujardin in Team GB’s dressage line-up.