CDI in Olomouc confirms that dressage hopes are high in the Czech Republic

The FEI Dressage World Cup took place in Olomouc last week. Although no Czech riders competed in the main competitions, the performances of the younger generation of riders left no doubt. Great talents for the future are growing up in the Czech Republic.

The third edition of the international dressage event in Olomouc was a great success for two Czech riders – Alice Hubáčková and Johana Vášáryová. They both won three competitions in their age categories and also performed well in higher-level competitions.

Alice Hubáčková competed in the Children’s Tour on her seven-year-old gelding Versailles 8, and she was not beaten once. She twice scored over 78 % for her performance and received a personal best from the judges.

Jasmína Vášáryová was also successful in the children’s category placing second twice and third once with her gelding Friday I’m in Love. Lucie Kodytková was equally successful with her pony Belagio HS, she placed third twice, and on Sunday she won silver in the freestyle to music, missing the score of seventy percent by only 0.8 points. 

Johana Vášáryová and her mare Bona Dea shone in the junior competitions. On Thursday she won with a score of 68.636 %, on Saturday she received 70.588 % from the judges and in Sunday’s freestyle she scored an excellent 75.167 %, leaving her competitors behind by five or more points. Alice Hubáčková also performed excellently in this category. She placed second and third with her gelding Dieu D’Amour 3 in a really strong competition, she did not participate in the junior competition on Sunday.

The Austrian rider Florentina Jöbstl, who has already achieved several successes with her stallion Bodyguard 49, including a medal at the European Championship, also performed excellently in the young riders’ competitions. It was no surprise that she came out on top again in Olomouc, where she was only beaten on Friday by Johana Vášáryová who described this triumph as one of the greatest achievements of her career so far. Vášáryová was second on Thursday and third on Sunday, when she was beaten by Jöbstl and the Australian rider Kate Kyros, who had been third in two previous competitions with her stallion Intro K.

Canadian rider Ryan Torkkeli also attracted the attention of dressage fans in Olomouc with his successes not only in the tree-star competitions. He won the Grand Prix on Friday and the Grand Prix Special on Sunday with his gelding Sternenwanderer and was also unbeatable in the two-star Intermediate II competition on Saturday, beating two Czech riders – Eva Jančaříková with her mare Jolyn M and Petra Miki Civišová with her gelding Europe-M. In the opening Intermediate A competition won by Jančaříková, Ryan Torkkeli was less successful and finished third. Aneta Havlíčková and the mare Fieneke celebrated their first triumph at the international level in a one-star competition, receiving a score of 70.967 % from the judges in the freestyle on Sunday.

The biggest star of the event was undoubtedly Justina Vanagaite-Samuile from Lithuania who won over the audience in Olomouc last year. This year she dominated both World Cup competitions. She scored 68.152 % in the Grand Prix on Friday and an excellent 75.685 % in the Grand Prix Freestyle on Saturday.