‘He believed he could do it’: super stallion scores personal best to top Olympic dressage group

Denmark’s Daniel Bachmann Andersen and Vayron have topped group B in the grand prix with a personal best on the opening day of the Olympic dressage at Paris 2024 (30 July).

Daniel and the powerful 13-year-old stallion were awarded 76.91% to earn their place in the freestyle, which decides the individual medals. Earlier in the morning Daniel’s teammate Nanna Merrald Skodborg scored 78.03% on Zepter in group A, making Denmark’s chances of advancing to the special, which decides the team medals, very promising.

Daniel and Vayron got off to a solid start, scoring three 9s and a 10 for the first extended trot, and their marks remained consistent throughout the test to squeeze ahead of Germany’s Frederic Wandres, who had scored 76.12% with Bluetooth OLD earlier in the group B session.

“I’m so thrilled and so proud to represent my country at an Olympic Games for first time, and then to do a personal best by almost a whole percent. That’s quite a thing,” he said.

“I was very proud when I rode in there. It was not like I felt ‘Oh, now I have to do a personal best’ but I felt just safe. Our team here is just absolutely amazing. We are so good for each other; we’re very different people, but we trust each other, and we are there for each other.”

Vayron is only in his second year at grand prix and Daniel said he’s just getting “better and stronger”.

“I can’t even explain how proud I am of this fantastic horse,” said Daniel.

“He is a bit innocent and he is a bit shy, but he just believed he could do it. I really have created that partnership now that he believed that he could do it, and I’m so thrilled.”

Daniel added that the Danish team couldn’t have got off to a better start.

“Of course we have a goal here and we will pursue it. We have started out really, really well. We did it in Herning, and we will try and do it here too,” he said, adding that the pressure coming from the strength of the other teams gives him an “extra bit of sparkle” to go out and achieve.

“It was the same in Herning, we had Germany and Britain pushing us really hard. It just shows how strong we are. We are the youngest team here, and it shows how skilled we are and what mentality we have. Many, many years of preparation is now coming out. Today was like autopilot, I just did what I know I can, I had that much focus. I thought he is so with me, I put on a little bit more and he just did it. He was instantly like ‘Yes of course, why not?’.

“I went in and I just had this proud feeling. I followed my plan then I took it all in when we were finished, and it was breathtaking.”

The final Danish combination, Cathrine Laudrup-Doufour and Freestyle, competed tomorrow in group E at 10.38am local time (9.38am UK time).

• To stay up to date with all the breaking news throughout the Olympic Games, Burghley, the Horse of the Year Show and more, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

You might also be interested in:

‘We do it for the love and passion’: Germany off to solid start in Olympic dressage

Welfare first as Olympic dressage rider eliminated after horse accidentally knocks itself

‘We’ve got to put the horses first’: Carl Hester on the sport’s challenges – and the Charlotte Dujardin video

Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access throughout the Olympics and more