Olympic gold medallist Tom McEwen helped Britain to set a dressage record score of 69.2 at the FEI World Eventing Championships ©FEI/Richard Juilliart

Britain set a record score for the dressage element of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) World Eventing Championships in Pratoni del Vivaro, while Germany's Michael Jung lead the individual standings at the halfway stage.

The Olympic champions led after day one at the Centro Equestre Ranieri di Campello following Laura Collett and Rosalind Canter's routines, and world number one Oliver Townend improved their score further with a 24.3 on Ballaghmor Class, placing him sixth in the individual competition.

Tom McEwen on Toledo de Kerser scored 25.6, ensuring that Britain posted the lowest dressage score in the Championships history of 69.2, with 14th-placed Canter's score of 26.2 not counting towards the total.

Their closest challengers are Germany, who were inspired by an 18.8 score from Jung on FischerChipmunk FRH, which was the second highest in the history of the event.

Individual eventing Olympic champion Julia Krajewski also helped Germany to climb the team standings with a 26.0 performance on Amande de B'Néville.

Germany's Michael Jung recorded the second highest individual dressage score in World Eventing Championships history ©FEI/Richard Juilliart
Germany's Michael Jung recorded the second highest individual dressage score in World Eventing Championships history ©FEI/Richard Juilliart

Germany are just under seven points behind Britain on 76.1 in the team classification.

Jung's heroics give him a lead of half a point over Collett in the individual standings.

Another Briton in Yasmin Ingham completes the individual top three with 22.0, while the United States are third in the team standings on 76.6.

Competition at the World Eventing Championships is set to continue with the cross country element tomorrow, followed by the jumping, which is due to conclude competition on Sunday (September 18).