Diana Porsche impresses at the World Cup in Madrid

Salzburg dressage rider Diana Porsche placed in the top six at the World Cup in Madrid and is currently in third place in the Western European League rankings

As in Lyon, Diana Porsche relied on her long-standing sport partner Douglas for the second World Cup leg at five-star level in the 2024/25 season. The experienced but sensitive KWPN gelding was able to concentrate well in the first test despite the noisy backdrop in Madrid: ‘Douglas gave me a good riding feeling despite the circumstances and technical problems during the warm-up and stayed with me. Unfortunately, we made mistakes in the canter changes,’ summarised Diana Porsche, who qualified for the points-deciding Grand Prix Freestyle with this performance and eighth place.

The pair's musical freestyle to the sounds of Lady Gaga not only impressed the numerous spectators on Sunday, but also the judges. They awarded 73.675 % - the sixth best score in the starting field. For Diana Porsche, it was perhaps the best test with Douglas: ‘Although he is already 16 years old, he needs my support in the arena. In the freestyle, he was very fine in the hand and was able to present himself proudly,’ beamed Diana Porsche, who, as an ambitious athlete, is nevertheless annoyed about mistakes: ’It's a shame that we had mistakes in both double changes. I wanted to make up for it on the joker line, but then I went too far forwards.’

With a total of 42 points from four different World Cup stages in Central & Western Europe, Diana Porsche is currently in third place in the FEI ranking of the Western European League and is therefore still on course for the final: ‘It will be very difficult to qualify for the final this World Cup season. Basel is a tournament that most people can reach without travelling far, and it's not the Olympic Games. The fact that I was able to collect a lot of points in the Central European League at the start of the season and that the big nations are limited to a maximum of three riders could play into my hands. We'll see if it works out! In any case, I'm over the moon to be able to take part in tournaments like this with my horses.’

The next highlight is coming up next weekend: Together with shooting star Dahoud, the rider from Salzburg will be competing at her home event, the Amadeus Horse Indoors, before the dream team travels to the British Isles for the first time for the unique London Horse Show. Another World Cup event with an Olympic starting field will take place there before Christmas.