Aachen 2026: Glamourdale Airlines delivers double gold

Under the lights of Aachen’s iconic stadium and in front of a crowd of more than 40,000 spectators, the world’s best dressage combinations delivered a spectacular evening of freestyle competition. Leading the way was Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale, who produced a breathtaking performance to claim a second freestyle gold medal and secure her title as a double World Champion.

Lottie delivered yet another back-to-back Gold performance, becoming the double World Champion for the second time aboard her own and Van Olst Horses’ Glamourdale. With her high-energy medley of flying-themed pop and classic songs, Lottie and Glamourdale glided around the stage in front of judges Maria Colliander (K – FIN), Clive Halsall (E – GBR), Maribel Alonso de Quinzaños (H – MEX), Ulrike Nivelle (C – GER), Alice Schwab (M – AUT), Michael Osinki (B – USA) and Kurt Christiansen (F – DEN) to finish on a fantastic 91.907%. This stunning score bests their winning score from the 2022 World Championships in Herning where they completed on 90.654%, and sat less than 0.9% away from their personal best that they achieved at the FEI European Championships in 2023. In their artistic marks, the pair achieved no less that 97.200%, with four of the judges on 99.000% or higher. For the technical, Lottie and Glamourdale achieved numerous 10’s throughout the canter work, leaving them with scores in the mid 80.000% from all of the judges.

Speaking about her performance on the Lord Leatherdale-sired stallion, Lottie quite simply said “It couldn’t be better for me”, going on further to explain “he was completely relaxed, he was super happy, we both enjoyed every second. We weren’t sweating, we weren’t out of breath, it was just so enjoyable”. Throughout the music, which included songs such as Frank Sinatras ‘Come Fly With Me’, Vengaboys’ ‘We’re Going to Ibiza’, John Denver’s ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’, and Nelly Furtado’s ‘I’m like a Bird’, Lottie described herself as “smiling throughout the test, I had to keep reminding myself to ‘concentrate… we’re at the World Championship!’, but it was the most amazing feeling in the world. This really was the best test of our lives so far so I do hope that we continue to improve but for now… this is just incredible.”

“It has been an amazing week, Glammy has performed beyond all of our expectations and he’s been a complete dream to ride from the stable to the arena he’s so happy here… he loves it. Before we went in to the main arena… he kept looking over there [the main arena] from the warm up every time they started clapping as if to go ‘can we go yet!’. I had to tell him it wasn’t our go yet, we have to wait! He was whinnying the whole way in, he was so excited to get in there, but as soon as you are in he is so quiet and calm… like this is his place.”

Speaking on the atmosphere of the crowd, Lottie described it as “amazing”, going on further to explain that “going in, you know it’s going to be a huge atmosphere, but you don’t really look up to have a look at what’s going on around you… but you can feel everyone there, especially when he does an extended canter, I can hear them which is really cool! … I’ve never ridden in quite an arena like that.”

Bron: British Dressage