End of the Road in Versailles for US Dressage Competitors at Paris 2024 Olympics

Piaffe problems sink Steffen Peters’ Grand Prix test; none qualify for Freestyle

Text and photographs by Jennifer O. Bryant

The 2024 Paris Olympic dressage competition came to an end today for the US contingent. Having lost its chance to advance in the team competition after Marcus Orlob on Jane was eliminated for blood on the mare’s leg during her Grand Prix test, the USA’s only hope was that Adrienne Lyle on Helix, Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper, or both would qualify to participate in the individual medal, the Grand Prix Freestyle. 

Unfortunately neither scored highly enough to qualify, and today, July 31, Peters and “Mopsie” – members of the silver-medal-winning team at Tokyo 2021 – put in an uncharacteristically poor performance that earned them a score of 66.491%. 

After the test, Peters was at something of a loss to explain why the 18.1-hand KWPN gelding by Spielberg became so wired in the stadium. After all, he’s been in plenty of them before. But Mopsie did, and Peters was barely able to keep him from jigging in the walk work. The nail in the coffin, as it were, was the final piaffe-passage tour down center line, during which Mopsie appeared to get “stuck” in the piaffe and for an agonizing moment didn’t proceed forward into passage at all. 

Those who have watched Mopsie over the years know that the horse can actually bring his hind legs too far underneath himself in the piaffe. Peters knows from experience in the six years they’ve been together that he must sit very lightly and not really ask the horse to come under at all—“but even that wasn’t working today,” he said.

Although Peters made no mention of anything physical seeming awry with Mopsie during the Grand Prix test, late this afternoon Christine Traurig, chef d’équipe of the 2024 US Olympic dressage team, issued a statement that “It became obvious to me during their test, Mopsie was not himself.” Mopsie was “taken care of by his team and our team USEF veterinarian,” she continued, “and he is starting to feel more himself, which is the most important thing.”

After two days off, the 10 nations that qualified for the team medal final (the Grand Prix Special) will take the stage on Saturday, August 3, at 10:00 a.m. Paris time: in descending order, Germany, Denmark, Great Britain, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, France, Austria, Finland, and Australia. Scores from the Special alone will determine the team medals.

At the same time the following day, August 4, the top 18 individual finishers from the two days of Grand Prix competition will vie for individual medals in the Grand Prix Freestyle. They’re listed below, along with their Grand Prix scores.

1. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on TSF Dalera BB (Germany), 82.065%

2. Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour on Freestyle (Denmark), 80.792%

3. Isabell Werth on Wendy (Germany), 79.363%

4. Charlotte Fry on Glamourdale (Great Britain), 78.913%

5. Nanna Skodborg-Merrald on Zepter (Denmark), 78.028%

6. Dinja van Liere on Hermes (Netherlands), 77.764%

7. Carl Hester on Fame (Great Britain), 77.345%

8. Daniel Bachmann Andersen on Vayron (Denmark), 76.910%

9. Isabel Freese on Total Hope OLD (Norway), 76.397%

10. Frederic Wandres on Bluetooth OLD (Germany), 76.118%

11. Becky Moody on Jagerbomb (Great Britain), 74.938%

12. Emmelie Scholtens on Indian Rock (Netherlands), 74.581%

13. Patrik Kittel on Touchdown (Sweden), 74.317%

14. Victoria Max-Theurer on Abegglen FH NRW (Austria), 74.301%

15. Therese Nilshagen on Dante Weltino OLD (Sweden), 73.991%

16. Pauline Basquin on Sertorius De Rima Z (France), 73.711%

17. Emma Kanerva on Greek Air (Finland), 73.680%

18. Sandra Sysojeva on Maxima Bella (Poland), 73.416%.