LONDON, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Germany's Isabell Werth secured her third dressage gold medal at the Longines FEI European Championships as she topped the individual freestyle event in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Saturday.
The 45-year-old had to pull out all the stops on her horse Weihegold OLD to pin German teammate Sonke Rothenberger into silver medal position. Denmark's Cathrine Dufour took bronze.
"We all pushed each other today," Werth said. "When I went in, both Weihe and me knew there was no little mini-mistake allowed, and that made it very exciting."
The 22-year-old Rothenberger produced stunning rides from his 10-year-old gelding Cosmo all week, finished just over a mark behind. Sweden's Therese Nilshagen produced the first over-80% score in the day's competition with the stunning stallion Dante Weltino before Britain's Carl Hester and Nip Tuck fractionally improved on that to change the lead.
Dufour, third-last to go, posted 84.560 with Atterupgaards Cassidy for a surprise bronze.
Werth, who also steered Weihegold to victory at the FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Omaha, the United States, in April, couldn't hold back the tears on the medal podium.
"I was full of adrenaline when I went in to ride, so it's a mixture of all the emotions you have during the week - I'm really grateful and thankful for what this week has brought me," she said.
