Ahlmann had finished top of the Western European League series and continued his impressive form by producing the first clear round of the day on his horse Taloubet Z.

The event required  a jump off, however, after a further six riders, including Ireland’s Denis Lynch, The Netherlands Harrie Smolders and Guerdat, the defending World Cup Final champion, also produced clean rounds.

Having gone into the week as one of the favourites to claim the overall title, Ahlmann firmly put a difficult first day behind him by delivering his second immaculate performance of the day.

Lynch was the only other competitor to prove faultless on both runs, but his time of 41.42sec was only good enough to be the runner-up as Ahlmann clocked 36.85.

The podium in the second competition was completed by Smolders, who finished in 39.18 but picked up four penalties.

“I sure wanted to go fast, I have a really fast horse, an unbelievable horse and my only chance to move forward in the rankings was a good result today,” Ahlmann said.

“I had no other option.

“I tried to put my colleagues under pressure and it worked out.”

Ahlmann lies in 10th position in the overall standings heading into the third and final competition, despite the victory today, and will need a similarly impressive result on Monday (March 28) to stand a chance of claiming the title.

With the results of the first two events having been converted into points, Guerdat occupies first position on a tally of 64, having finished fourth today.

Germany’s Marcus Ehning is five points adrift in second and Smolders is a further point behind in third.

The World Cup Dressage Final is due to draw to a close tomorrow.