Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu. (CREDIT: olympic.ca)
New Glasgow native Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu has made Canadian history at the Tokyo Olympics.
Fraser-Beaulieu and her partner, All In, secured 18th place in the Dressage Individual Grand Prix Freestyle event held on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old equestrian athlete and the 16-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding received a final score of 76.404 per cent for their performance, which opened to Celine Dion’s “I’m Alive.” They were given a 72.607 per cent technical score and 80.200 per cent artistic score.
The dressage competition is often compared to ballet as both the horse and athlete must move seamlessly throughout the arena through subtle commands. The horse moves side to side, transitions into a gallop, and rapidly changes direction.
The pair have now broken the previous record for the highest Canadian score in an Olympic Freestyle, which was held by Fraser-Beaulieu’s coach, Ashley Holzer. Holzer scored 71.450 per cent at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
They were also the first Canadian combination in the Olympic individual final since then.
Fraser-Beaulieu has a long-standing partnership with All In as the gelding was purchased at 5-years-old. They have been the highest placed Canadian combination on the FEI Dressage World Ranking since 2017.
Fraser-Beaulieu began her career at age five and her first pony was named Freckles.
She was the first rider to compete at the FEI Pony level in Nova Scotia.
