World Singles Championship (Italy), report from Karen Garrett:

Robin Groves drove at 3:10 on Thursday afternoon and had a score of 62.08. She had a break into canter during an extended trot, but otherwise drove a smooth test.  Interestingly, Robin was the only competitor today to drive a two-wheel vehicle; there have been a number of two-wheel vehicles at prior competitions. Lying in first place after the first day of dressage is Jan Van Den Broek of The Netherlands, with a 41.73. His test was lovely to watch and nearly flawless. Coming in close behind Van den Broek is Mareike Harm of Germany, with a 43.90. Rounding out the top five were Christoph Dieker, also of Germany, with a 46.77, Detlef Bohlmann of Germany with a 51.58, and Bartlomiej Kwiatek of Poland with a 51.97. Harm and Bohlmann are both members of the German team; Dieker was driving as an individual. The third member of the German team drove today (Friday) at 12:05.

Robin Groves, during her dressage test on Thursday (photo by Karen Garrett)

On the U.S. front, Kim Stover drove today at 10:00, Donna Crookston at 11:45, and Bill Peacock at 4:10. I was able to confirm, talking to Diane Koopman, that the steward at the warm-up arena was holding competitors and not allowing them to proceed to the main arena, which caused the problem of getting to the dressage arena on time. I also heard that the Nations’ Party on Wednesday night was a wild affair (sorry I missed that!) and made the party in Poland at the last Worlds pale by comparison. I’m not going to tell tales on anyone, but I heard there was a lot of dancing and one member of the U.S. team ended up with a shirt from a member of the French team! 

News on other competitors: Anne Violaine Brisou of France, twice French champion and World silver medalist, had a dressage score of 54.14. Ian Bertram, who was a member of the 2006 gold-medal team at this same venue, had a score of 64.77.