The individual dressage event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 24 to 28 July 2021 at the Baji Koen. Like all other equestrian events, the dressage competition is open-gender, with both male and female athletes competing in the same division. 60 riders from 30 nations are expected to compete.

Background

This was the 25th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics since 1912.

The two-time reigning Olympic champion is Charlotte Dujardin of Great Britain (riding Valegro). The reigning (2018) World Champion is Isabell Werth of Germany.

An Olympics.com preview of equestrian (all events) provided the following overview:

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified riders in the individual dressage. Quota places are allocated to the NOC, which selects the riders. There were 60 quota places available, allocated as follows:

Team members (45 places): Each of the 15 NOCs qualified in the team dressage event entered its 3 team members in the individual dressage event. Ranking (15 places): The top 2 riders (1 per NOC, and excluding NOCs with qualified teams) in each of the 7 geographic regions were to receive a quota places, with one final quota place based on rankings regardless of geographic region. The two Americas regions were combined. A withdrawal by Norway resulted in one of the Group A places being reallocated to the world ranking.

Competition format

The competition format has changed dramatically from prior Games. The competition has dropped from three rounds to two; moreover, advancement is now determined first by place in group rather than overall place (though there are lucky loser places available). The two rounds of the competition are the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle.

Grand Prix: All 60 riders compete in the Grand Prix. They are divided into 6 groups of 10; 3 groups will go on each day of the round. The top 2 riders in each group, along with the next best 6 overall, advance to the Grand Prix Freestyle. The Grand Prix is also the qualifying round for the team event. Grand Prix Freestyle: The 18 riders competing receive a final rank based only on the Grand Prix Freestyle score (the Grand Prix scores do not carry over).

Schedule

The event takes place on three competition days over five days, with two days for the Grand Prix followed by a rest day, the team final day, then the individual Grand Prix Freestyle.

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9).

Day Date Start Finish Phase Day 1 Saturday 24 July 2021 17:00 22:00 Grand Prix Day 1 Day 2 Sunday 25 July 2021 17:00 22:00 Grand Prix Day 2 Day 5 Wednesday 28 July 2021 17:30 21:25 Grand Prix Freestyle

Results Grand Prix The top two athletes from each group, and the six athletes with the next best scores (a multi-step tiebreaker would be used for ties, finally broken by random draw) will qualify to the individual final (Grand Prix Freestyle). RankGroupRiderNationHorseGP scoreNotes 1 C Jessica von Bredow-Werndl TSF Dalera 84.379 Q 2 F Isabell Werth Bella Rose 2 82.500Q 3 B Cathrine Dufour Bohemian 81.056 Q 4 F Charlotte Dujardin Gio 80.963Q 5 E Dorothee Schneider Showtime FRH 78.820Q 6 B Edward Gal Total Us 78.649 Q 7 C Sabine Schut-Kery Sanceo 78.416 Q 8 A Charlotte Fry Everdale 77.096 Q 9 C Hans Peter Minderhoud Dream Boy 76.817 q 10 D Carina Cassøe Krüth Heiline's Danciera 76.677Q 11 F Steffen Peters Suppenkasper 76.196q 12 A Therese Nilshagen Dante Weltino Old 75.140 Q 13 C Carl Hester En Vogue 75.124 q 14 D Adrienne Lyle Salvino 74.876 15 E Juliette Ramel Buriel K.H. 73.369Q 16 A Nanna Skodborg Merrald Zack 73.168 q 17 C Rodrigo Torres Fogoso 72.624 q 18 B Beatriz Ferrer-Salat Elegance 72.096 q 19 F Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu All In 71.677q 20 E Marlies van Baalen Go Legend 71.615 21 D Christian Schumach Te Quiero SF 70.900 22 A Yvonne Losos de Muñiz Aquamarijn 70.869 23 D Laurence Roos Fil Rouge 70.699 24 E Morgan Barbançon Sir Donnerhall II OLD 70.543 25 E Nicolas Wagner Quarter Back Junior FHR 70.512 26 A João Oliva Escorial 70.419 27 B Maria Caetano Fenix de Tineo 70.311 28 E Domien Michiels Intermezzo Van Het Meerdaalhof 70.202 29 F João Miguel Torrao Equador 70.186 30 F Florian Bacher Fidertraum 69.813 31 B Inessa Merkulova Mister X 69.457 32 C José Antonio García Mena Sorento 15 69.146 33 F Maxime Collard Cupido PB 69.068 34 C Alexandre Ayache Zo What 68.929 35 B Antonia Ramel Brother de Jeu 68.540 36 D Simone Pearce Destano 68.494 37 D Heike Holstein Sambuca 68.432 38 D Severo Jurado Fendi T 68.370 39 B Chris von Martels Eclips 68.059 40 A Mary Hanna Calanta 67.981 41 E Estelle Wettstein West Side Story OLD 67.748 42 C Larissa Pauluis Flambeau 67.251 43 B Francesco Zaza Wispering Romance 66.941 44 F Yessin Rahmouni All at Once 66.599 45 F Hiroyuki Kitahara Huracan 10 66.304 46 F Virginia Yarur Ronaldo 66.227 47 A Inna Logutenkova Fleraro 66.118 48 E Shingo Hayashi Scolari 4 65.714 49 B Dina Ellermann Donna Anna 65.435 50 D Lindsay Kellock Sebastien 65.404 51 E Martha Del Valle Beduino LAM 64.876 52 C Henri Ruoste Kontestro DB 64.674 53 C Aleksandra Maksakova Bojengels 63.898 54 D Tatyana Kosterina Diavolessa VA 63.866 55 A Kim Dong-seon Belstaff 63.447 56 A Kazuki Sado Ludwig Der Sonnenkoenig 2 62.531 57 E Kelly Layne Samhitas 58.354 — D Caroline Chew Tribiani B Victoria Max-Theurer Abegglen NRW

Grand Prix Freestyle The Grand Prix Freestyle was drawn in groups of 6 in reverse order of the results in the Grand Prix. For the first time at the Olympics, the FEI Degree Of Difficulty system was used: each of the riders electronically submitted a floorplan of their movements ahead of the competition and were assigned a maximum difficulty score by computer. The judges then assessed the competitors according to their unique scoresheet. RankRiderNationHorseGPF scoreNotes Jessica von Bredow-Werndl TSF Dalera 91.732 Isabell Werth Bella Rose 2 89.657 Charlotte Dujardin Gio 88.543 4Cathrine Dufour Bohemian 87.507 5Sabine Schut-Kery Sanceo 84.300 6Edward Gal Total Us 84.157 7Carina Cassøe Krüth Heiline's Danciera 83.329 8Carl Hester En Vogue 81.818 9Juliette Ramel Buriel K.H. 81.182 10Steffen Peters Suppenkasper 80.968 11Nanna Skodborg Merrald Zack 80.893 12Hans Peter Minderhoud Dream Boy 80.682 13Charlotte Fry Everdale 80.614 14Therese Nilshagen Dante Weltino Old 79.721 15Dorothee Schneider Showtime FRH 79.432 16Rodrigo Torres Fogoso 78.943 17Beatriz Ferrer-Salat Elegance 77.532 18Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu All In 76.404

References