By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) - Six-times Olympic champion Isabell Werth retained her dressage World Cup title after a flawless ride on Weihegold OLD on Saturday.
The 48-year-old, who won her first Olympic title in Barcelona back in 1992, scored 90.657 percent at the Accor (PA:ACCP) Hotel Arena to add to her 1992, 2007 and 2017 World Cup titles.
Also seven-times world champion, Werth beat American Laura Graves, on Verdades, by 1.575 percentage points.
Another German, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, finished a distant third with 83.725 per cent, on Unee BB.
World number one Werth, who had won four of nine events going into the World Cup dressage final, made uncharacteristic mistakes in Friday’s Grand Prix as she was beaten by Graves, but there was no repeat of those in Saturday’s decisive Grand Prix Freestyle.
A bouncy piaffe, near-perfect tempo changes and a lot of power made the difference after the seven judges gave their marks.
The event is part of a joint-final with the World Cup jumping final, which will be held on Sunday.