GERMANY claimed the team title for a staggering 24th time at the Longines FEI European Dressage Championships 2019 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on Tuesday where the hosts scooped silver and Sweden snatched the bronze.

The battle for medal placings was intense, and so too was the contest for the three available qualifying spots at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games which eventually went to Ireland, Denmark and Portugal.

On an extraordinary afternoon of high drama, German superstar Isabell Werth posted the biggest score of the competition with 85.65% from Bella Rose to secure the title and collect her 22nd European Championship medal and the 11th European team gold of her illustrious career.

The stage looked set for Great Britain to bag the silver, but elimination for the penultimate partnership of Charlotte Dujardin and Mt St John Freestyle under the blood rule dropped her team to fourth, so it was the Dutch and Swedes who filled the lower steps of the podium.

The winning German side consisted of all four gold medallists from last year’s FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon – Werth, Dorothee Schneider, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Sonke Rothenberger.

It was another masterclass from the legend that is Werth, the most medalled athlete in the history of equestrian sport who said that today’s win was extra special because she achieved it with her beloved Bella Rose. “She was really brilliant, I’m happy and proud, both of us enjoyed the competition,” she said.