Sunday July 19, 2004

Anky van Grunsven wins the Grand Prix Freestyle of Aachen

Aachen Press Release - The "On the Scene" report by our euro-correspondent A.Appels is coming later tonight. Anky van Grunsven is a happy soul. During her victorious freestyle test in the Prize of the Deutsche Bank, the Grand Prix of Aachen, she sang now and again to the accompanying music. "Well," she said afterwards with a grin, "it was more la-la-la than actual singing." Whatever: it obvi-ously helped.

The Dutch dressage rider scored a total of 85.65% with Gestion Salinero, thus winning not only the freestyle competition on Sunday morning, but also the combined classification. The favourite, Ulla Salzgeber from Bad Wörishoven, achieved 82.77% and came second in both the freestyle and combined competitions. She stood with her fists clenched as Anky van Grunsven rode her freestyle in front of 5,000 spectators in the Deutsche Bank Stadium which was sold out. Her main rival still had to ride, but anyhow everything just went right for Anky van Grunsven. "I somehow just thought the whole time: Oh this is easy, and it came off too."

After Ulla Salzgeber made a small mistake, everything was clear: Van Grunsven wins the Grand Prix of Aachen. "It is the best thing that could happen," she cheered.

Horsesdaily 2004 CHIO Aachen Coverage