Andreas Helgstrand
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  Denmark
|
||
| Equestrian | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
 |
2008 Beijing | Team dressage |
| World Championships | ||
 |
2006 Aachen | Freestyle dressage |
|
2006 Aachen | Special dressage |
Andreas Helgstrand (born October 2, 1977) is a Danish dressage rider. He won four consecutive Danish dressage championships, from 2005 through 2008.
Andreas Helgstrand was born in 1977 to Ulf Helgstrand and his wife. His father became president of the Danish Equestrian Federation. Andreas started competitive riding aged 7 or 8, competing initially in showjumping. At the age of 17, he started training as a riding master in 1994 at the Sport Riding Club in Aalborg. He passed the final exams in 2000.
He has since worked as a horse trainer, riding instructor, and horse trader; first in the Netherlands with Anne van Olst, then in Kongsberg in Norway, before replacing Lars Petersen at the Blue Hors stud in Randboel, Denmark. At the 2004 Olympics, riding Cavan, Helgstrand came in ninth in the individual and fifth in the team. He finished fourth in the 2004 poll for Danish sportsperson of the year.
At the 2006 World Equestrian Games, riding the mare Matiné, Helgstrand came in second in the Individual freestyle and third in the individual special. Eurodressage's report of the tournament called him "the favourite of the crowd" and said he "seemed to have redefined piaffe and passage". A video of this performance has circulated widely on YouTube, being seen nearly 3 million times.
Helgstrand withdrew from the 2007 Dressage World Cup finals in Las Vegas when Matiné twisted her left front pastern on arrival while getting out of the van. She was retired from competition in the months afterward, as she was unable to recover from the injury. In 2010 she had to be euthanised after breaking a leg in the pasture.
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