Lausanne (SUI), 20 October 2011 – American Dressage riders swept all before them when returning a record-breaking fourth consecutive team victory and filling all the steps of the individual medal podium at the 2011 Pan-American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. On Sunday they cruised confidently into pole position in the team event ahead of the silver medallists from Canada while Colombia claimed the bronze. And yesterday Steffen Peters steered Weltino’s Magic to individual gold ahead of Heather Blitz with Paragon in silver and Marisa Festerling and Big Tyme in bronze.
It was a convincing performance at all levels, and anchorman Peters was the linchpin of the American side. But, as he pointed out in the aftermath of the team success, he was under considerably less pressure than usual due to the highly-competitive performances of his team-mates. “Over the past few years I have always had to carry a lot of weight on my shoulders as the very last rider, but the team did an awesome job – every single horse, every single rider,” he pointed out. The silver medallists from Canada and bronze medallists from Colombia had plenty of reason to celebrate too, as their second and third-place finishes have provided them with qualifying spots for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
TEAM MEDALS
A total of 12 nations battled it out for the team medals, and the combined US score of 75.754 gave them a clear five-point victory. Peters and Weltino’s Magic produced the only score over 80% – his 80.132 setting a new Pan-American Games record – and he was awarded the leading mark by all five members of the Ground Jury – Great Britain’s Stephen Clarke, Raphael Saleh from France, Canada’s Cara Witham, Argentina’s Gabriel Armando and President, Lilo Fore, from the USA.
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