Max-Theurer and Co.

Dressage final: Austria in ninth place

Victoria Max-Theurer

(Bild: AP)

Victoria Max-Theurer (Abegglen), Florian Bacher (Fidertraum) and Stefan Lehfellner (Roberto Carlos) missed out on the targeted top six place in the dressage team final at the Olympic Games on Saturday.

With 211.505 percentage points, Austria finished in ninth and penultimate place. Gold went to Germany with final rider Jessica Bredow-Werndl, who did not go clear but still narrowly defended her lead ahead of Denmark. Bronze went to Great Britain.

The Austrian team's chance of a top place was as good as gone after the first group. Lehfellner, who was competing as a replacement for Christian Schumach (whose horse had not passed the veterinary check, please note), came tenth and last with his horse Roberto Carlos after a botched middle section (67.143 percentage points).

Stefan Lehfellner

(Bild: GEPA)

"All in all, I would have imagined it differently. But basically we didn't sell ourselves too badly," said Lehfellner afterwards. "Roberto was completely different today. That's just the way it is with this horse, he's a genius and madness horse. He was very impressed on the first day (in the qualifier) and was awakened by the scenery, but today he really got into himself. That was by far the bigger challenge today."

Afterwards, Bacher and Fidertraum scored over 70 percent (70.608) despite touching the rail and improved the red-white-red dressage team to ninth place, just ahead of Finland. Hitting the rail "was the only problem we had inside," he said, quibbling a little with the judges. "Apart from that, it was a really good round. They just didn't want to give any points away, that's sometimes the case in dressage. You can't change that, otherwise you have to change sport. But I'm still super happy with our performance. We made it to the special final, our goal has been achieved."

Florian Bacher

(Bild: GEPA)

Finally, Max-Theurer delivered a successful performance on Abegglen with 73.754 percentage points. Even more would have been possible had it not been for her horse's fundamental weaknesses in the walk, which were also reflected in two five-point scores this time. "We have already improved there - and we are continuing to work on it. The rest had many highlights. I am very happy, very satisfied, apart from one or two small things. I'm very proud of him for the way he presented himself."

"All three of us proved that we are ready for the Olympics"
In the final standings, they were over four percentage points ahead of Australia, but were overtaken by Finland. "I think we could have gone either way," said Max-Theurer, summing up the team competition. "All three of us proved that we are ready for the Olympics. We can be very happy, satisfied and proud."

In the end, Germany came out on top in a heart-stopping final by a wafer-thin 0.121 percentage points ahead of Denmark. It was Isabell Werth's eighth gold medal at the Olympic Games, making her Germany's record medal winner.

Max-Theurer in action in the individual final on Sunday
Max-Theurer is still waiting for precious metal at her sixth Olympic Games. Tomorrow, Sunday (10.00 a.m.), she will compete in the Grand Prix Special final after surprisingly qualifying for the final of the individual competition. "We will see if we can recharge our batteries a bit. Tomorrow is the topper, we didn't expect the freestyle and therefore hardly practiced any freestyle. But we're really looking forward to it and will try to present ourselves in the best possible way."

In any case, her freestyle music has already been decided and had to be uploaded weeks in advance, she said. "It's a mixture of opulent to light, from very modern to very classical - everything your heart desires and what the rider feels like doing." Max-Theurer's goals for Sunday: "Have fun, be proud and grateful that we are here and do the best we can."