Change of places at the top of the leaderboard of the aspiring young dressage riders. In the FEI individual test in the Prize of Liselott and Klaus Rheinberger Foundation, first place went to Clara Paschertz and Veronica Pawluk came second. Today in the freestyle competition, it was the other way round.

The film music of Free Willy formed the fitting accompaniment to the freestyle choreography of Veronica Pawluk and her Oldenburg-bred mare, Fallete OLD. The pair have been sports partners for around a year. The 17-year-old rides for Poland but actually lives in Düsseldorf. It is the first time she is competing at the CHIO Aachen. Nervous? At least not to the extent that it affected her performance. “I had great fun riding this freestyle. The atmosphere here in the stadium is indescribable and I simply wanted to enjoy it,” she said later. She wasn’t the only one to enjoy it, the judges did too. As the penultimate pair to go, Pawluk and Fallete knocked the hitherto leading pair down into second place with their score of 75.795 percent.

Hence, the winners of the FEI individual test, Clara Paschertz and For Gold OLD, came second on a score of 74.425 percent. Third place went to Denmark, to Clara Cordes Arnkjaer with her Danish warmblood mare, Brianna (73.690).