The Brits will head to Paris as underdogs, but it will be an enticing battle at the top, says H&H dressage editor Oscar Williams
Britain has a stellar dressage record at the Paralympics and has won team gold at every Games since the discipline joined the programme in Atlanta in 1996 – but the tides are turning.
In 2018 British dominance and a 22-year unbeaten streak at para dressage championships were broken by the Netherlands who took gold at the World Equestrian Games, relegating the Brits to silver by 0.6%. At the European Championships the following year the Dutch won gold again, extending their margin of victory over the British to almost 6% this time.
All of that meant that the British team went to the Tokyo Games as underdogs. With an inexperienced line-up of horses – all of whom were making their championship debut – the pressure was off with much of the press billing it as an opportune warm-up for Pairs.
But in the absence of expectation came a freedom to take risks, and the British team delivered three remarkable, emotional tests to scoop their seventh consecutive Paralympic title against the odds.
Since then, what we’ve come to know as normal service has resumed with the chastened Dutch retaining their world champion status in 2022 – while the Brits slumped to their lowest-ever championship finish in fourth – and their European title last summer.
So can the British team upset the odds again or will we see the Dutch do what they failed to do in Tokyo and complete their championship collection?
Well, despite not yet knowing which three combinations will contest the team competition, expect the British riders to come out stronger than at the Europeans.
Natasha Baker – competing at her fourth Games – returns to the team with her Tokyo medallist Dawn Chorus while debutante Mari Durward-Akhurst is the current world number one and will be riding the all-star Athene Lindebjerg, who competed at the Rio Games in 2016 with Sophie Christiansen to win triple gold.
But it’s still hard to look past the Dutch riders. Their two highest scorers from the Europeans – Demi Haerkens on Daula and Sanne Voets on the bona fide legend Demantur – are on the team again while Annemarieke Nobel on Doo Schufro and Rixt van der Horst on Royal Fonq are trending on higher scores than the combinations they’ve replaced.
European silver medallists Germany will also threaten the top spots.
The well-backed USA squad are also much fancied and are under the tutelage of Michel Assouline, who led the British team during their golden run.
While the rise of these challengers may spell the end of Britain’s period of Paralympic dominance, high standards show how much the sport has progressed since Atlanta in 1996 where athletes were riding borrowed horses.
Whatever the outcome, it will be a fantastic watch with the equestrian venue at Versailles one of the first two Paralympic venues to sell out – a stark contrast to the vacant grandstands of Tokyo.
H&H’s dressage editor’s Paralympic podium
Who won the Paralympic dressage team medals since 1996
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