Hanna through to Special as Aussie team secure spot for Rio Olympics
The Aussie Dressage team were thrilled to finish in the top 10 at the 2014 World Equestrian Games, with team veteran Mary Hanna securing her spot in tomorrow's Grand Prix Special.
Hanna and Sancette finished strong for the Aussies with a score of 70.929 in today's Grand Prix, allowing her to qualify for the Special.
The seasoned veteran who has four World Equestrian Games and four Olympic Games to her name, was thrilled with her performance and thanked all the supporters who cheered them on.
"I never came over (to Europe) expecting to do this. I qualified for the World Cup Final as the representative for Australia from the Pacific League Final and I said to myself if he gets through that and makes it to here (WEG) then that's a bonus.
"It's so cool to see all the Aussies here. It makes a huge difference when you get out there and feel the crowd behind you, so we thank each and every one of them," said Hanna.
It wasn’t quite the campaign Kristy Oatley had planned with Ronan 2, the three-time Olympian finished with 63.771.
Strong results from Australia's dressage riders across both days of competition at the WEG have all but secured a starting spot for Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Automatic Olympic qualification from WEG was a key goal for the Australians coming into the Games and Equestrian Australia (EA) High Performance Manager Chris Webb said it is a huge boost for team's preparation for Rio.
"It's all but confirmed we have secured our spot for dressage at the next Olympics with Australia edging out the countries we needed to - it's just a matter of paperwork now.
"This WEG team knew we had to post strong scores to achieve automatic qualification and they came out and did that.
"Post WEG we will be able to purely focus on our road to Rio campaign - but for now we can really reflect on the great work that all riders have done here in Normandy," said Webb.
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