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Charlotte Dujardin and horse Valegro post dressage world record
The new mark of 87.740 eclipses the pair's previous record of 87.129
Dujardin delights home crowd at Olympia Horse Show in London
The Queen would most certainly approve.
Charlotte Dujardin, Britain’s double Olympic champion, broke her own dressage world record on Tuesday night, in front of a rapturous home crowd in London.
On board Valegro, the pair posted a new mark of 87.740, eclipsing their previous best of 87.129, which was set at the World Cup in April.
The news is also sure to delight Buckinhgham Palace, Dujardin revealing recently the Queen had said of her prowess: “no-one rides like this young lady.”
Read: The girl with the dancing horse
“To break another world record is fantastic,” Dujardin was quoted as saying on Team GB’s official website.
“I just went in there to enjoy it as Valegro and I hadn’t competed since the World Equestrian Games and didn’t want to put pressure on him.
“But we both love Olympia and the amazing atmosphere and it’s great to achieve this and we’ll just go out again and let rip on Wednesday.”
The 29-year-old only began competing at the top level of dressage three years ago but is the current World, European and Olympic champion, becoming the first rider in the sport’s history to hold all its major titles.
Dujardin, known by the moniker “The Girl with the Dancing Horse” in her native Great Britain, was recently crowned Sunday Times & Sky Sports Sportswoman of the Year.
And she recently spoke of her visit to the Palace to meet the Monarch, who is an avid fan of horse racing and dressage.
“She was absolutely amazing,” Dujardin explained of her meeting with Queen Elizabeth II in a recent interview with The Guardian newspaper.
“I was talking to two ladies and she came over and said: ‘I have to tell you two that there is no other girl that rides like this young lady.’ And I was like: ‘Oh my god the Queen has just said that!’ You don’t expect that from the Queen.
“I was thinking: ‘Does she know all this because she has researched me, or does she follow what I do?’ But when we talked further she knew so much about me, far more than you could read.”
Dujardin’s prowess has catapulted her into the limelight, with over 75,000 people voting for her during the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year contest.
She came fourth in the annual vote to crown the sporting achievement of the year behind Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, four-time major golf champion Rory McIlroy and athlete Jo Pavey.
After completing her “grand slam” of titles in September, she told CNN: “If someone had asked me ‘do you think that’s possible?’ I would have been like ‘absolutely not.
“For it to have been possible and that I’ve actually done it is very surreal and something that I always have to think ‘Oh my God!’ I’ve won all of it. There’s no more I can do.”