Theresa Nabbefeld was the best in the Prize of Family Hans-Peter Simons

Theresa Nabbefeld's freestyle went like clockwork. The young Westphalian showed off the strengths of her 13-year-old sport partner Devalero to the sounds of Disney's Vaiana. "It was an incredible ride today," beamed Theresa Nabbefeld. "My horse felt fantastic and we were super in tune with the music throughout the entire freestyle." The three judges agreed and rewarded the pair's performance with a new personal best of 74.842 percent. "And that was enough to relegate the winner of the two previous days, Emma Caecilia Lienert and her Express (74.275 percent), to second place. Theresa Nabbefeld's joy was correspondingly great: "This is my first time here in Aachen. The atmosphere in this arena is really very special and I am over the moon that we are able to be right at the front here today." For Theresa Nabbefeld, the victory in the Prize of Family Hans-Peter Simons was also a golden end to her time as a young rider: "This is a very emotional moment for me." A member of the CHIO Aachen CAMPUS Excellence Program, Laura Lausten from Sweden and Fairy Tale, was delighted with third place.

During the award ceremony, Emma Caecilia Lienert was delighted to receive a very special award in addition to the silver ribbon: thanks to her consistently outstanding performances across all three competitions, the 20-year-old was awarded the title of Young Riders Champion 2023, powered by UVEX.

Photos: Jasmin Metzer

Chief Judge Eva-Maria Vint-Warmington, ALRV President Stefanie Peters and Julia de Ridder congratulated the beaming winner Theresa Nabbefeld.