Brandstätter claims victory in the Junior Final

Daniel Winkler
5 days ago
2 min read

Radiant sunshine, tense faces, and utmost concentration in the arena: Sunday began at the international dressage competition with a true highlight for the up-and-coming generation – the FEI Juniors Individual Test. And it remained exciting right up to the end. After Lena Abfalterer dominated the competition on Saturday with La Bella Rosa, Emilia Brandstätter narrowly took the lead on the final day with Weena – scoring a strong 68.794 percent to secure the victory ahead of Abfalterer on La Bella Rosa (68.529%) and Italy's Matteo Borghesi on Foldbergs Dantino (68.235%).

For Brandstätter, it was an emotional rollercoaster – finishing fourth on Saturday and climbing to the top of the podium on Sunday. "It just felt better today. Weena was much more attentive to me; we were much more in sync during the test than yesterday," she described, visibly moved. The day before, nerves still played a role – "but today we really mastered it well," said the grateful winner. She especially thanked her coach and her parents: "They support me every single day – none of this would be possible without them."

Asked about the highlights of her ride, she didn’t need to think long: “The lateral movements – the traversals – were really good, whether in trot or canter. And overall, the canter work went better for us today than yesterday.”

But success doesn’t come overnight. “Looking back over the past few months, I’m really satisfied with our progress. We’ve improved tremendously since the beginning of the year,” said the Upper Austrian rider. And she’s already thinking about the next big goal: the European Championships.

“That would be really cool if I could qualify. Next week, we’re heading to Brno – it’s a mandatory competition for us.” She already completed a satisfactory first selection trial in Máriakálnok.