Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro retain European freestyle title

Double Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin completed a double gold-medal winning triumph on Valegro at the FEI European Dressage Championships in Germany on Sunday.

After retaining her Grand Prix Special title and helping Great Britain to team silver on Saturday, the world No 1 edged home favourite Kristina Broring-Sprehe by less than 0.2 per cent to successfully defend her freestyle title.

Dujardin was drawn to go last in Aachen and saw Broring-Sprehe delight the crowd by taking the lead on Desperados FRH with 88.804 per cent immediately before her.

Despite a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes, Dujardin - who holds all three dressage world records - managed to retain the title she won two years ago in Denmark with a score of 89.054%.

“It’s a great feeling that this tough crowd - the Germans - have come here and appreciated what Valegro and I have done,” Dujardin said afterwards.

“I knew what was going to come. Being in Aachen with Kristina being with her home crowd, I was expecting it, just like I had in London three years ago.

“Following Kristina, you could feel how much the crowd were behind her. When I walked in, there was a huge atmosphere and they were applauding her score. There was a lot to deal with at the very beginning, but overall, I am thrilled.

“I was really happy with the start of the test, then there was a mistake in my one-time changes. I knew it was going to be a tough call here, but I am not going to moan. I am going away with two gold medals and a silver, and I am really happy with that.”