Bronze for Lottie Fry and Glamourdale as Olympic dressage freestyle goes down to the wire

It came down to the wire again at the Paris 2024 Games, with Lottie Fry and Glamourdale finishing third in the Olympic dressage freestyle on 88.97% to claim the individual bronze medal for Britain in a dramatic finale.

Lottie had said after the special yesterday that she felt there was still more in the tank, and Glamourdale had a whole range of highlights in the freestyle. His canter extensions were as stunning as ever and his changes were expressive.

“That was an amazing feeling,” said Lottie, directly after her test, before she knew she was destined for the podium. “As soon as the music starts Glamourdale really dances to it, it’s his favourite song and when it starts playing he just loves every second.”

But the margins at the top were incredibly tight, and after a couple of slight mistakes in Lottie and Glamourdale’s test, it looked like they might finish agonisingly short of the podium.

“He delivered his best work, but we had a few tiny mistakes creep in which was a shame,” added Lottie. “Yesterday was a very long day for him, with the prize giving, then a doping test, and then the vet check this morning – it’s been a long weekend for the horses, but I couldn’t be more proud of him.

“Just to be at the Olympics is a massive achievement and a massive dream.”

Lottie and Glamourdale were sitting in third before individual medal favourites and last-to-go Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Freestyle entered the arena.

Despite spectacular piaffe pirouettes into canter pirouettes and several other highlights, they too had mistakes and dramatically finished on 88.09% to sit in fifth on the final leaderboard.

That meant Lottie and Glamourdale secured the bronze medal, adding to Team GB’s remarkable medal haul across all the equestrian disciplines.

More to follow…

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