LONDON, April 14 -- Germany's Isabell Werth claimed her fourth title at the FEI World Cup dressage final by dominating deciding freestyle competition in Paris on Saturday.
The 48-year-old, who trailed America's Laura Graves and Verdades after Friday's Grand Prix, produced a pristine performance to see off the challenge and lift the coveted trophy for the fourth time in her incredible career.
Graves had already posted a massive score of 89.082 which, the US rider admitted, surprised even her. "I knew anything was possible. I knew it would take a score like that to possibly get a win and it was a huge personal best for me," Graves said.
However Werth mustered all the skill and experience of a lifetime to squeeze her rival out of pole position with the winning mark of 90.657.
"Like I said yesterday I was not really disappointed or sad, I was just thinking about how I had to prepare for today and how I had to make it better and analyse what went wrong," Werth said.
Werth's compatriots Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (Unee BB) and Dorothee Schneider (Sammy Davis Jr) finished third and fifth.