Following today’s thrilling qualifier, the Olympic showjumping team competition comes to its conclusion tomorrow (Friday, 2 August) at the Paris Games.
The action starts at 2pm local time (1pm British time) and the top 10 teams from today’s class go through to compete for the medals.
1. The Brits. Ben Maher (Dallas Vegas Batilly), Harry Charles (Romeo 88) and Scott Brash (Jefferson) were all jumping very well today in the qualifier for the team to finish third in the rankings. While we don’t want to add to the pressure, we all know what a repeat tomorrow would mean…
2. Germany. The only nation to finish on a zero score today, Christian Kukuk (Checker 47), Philipp Weishaupt (Zineday) and Richard Vogel (United Touch S) were on imperious form. Of course, the teams all start on a clean slate tomorrow so they don’t gain any significant advantage, beyond having their first two riders last to ride in their groups, but their confidence must be high after today’s performance.
3. Beautiful fences. Our favourites today included this beautifully painted wall, which celebrates urban art in Paris, and a fence decorated in a ballet theme to reflect the rich history of this art form in the city.
4. The course. The challenge Santiago Varela set today was tougher than the first round at some championships – and the Olympics has a different format too, starting straight in over a 1.60m track without an initial 1.50m speed round. France’s Simon Delestre said this was a positive as there was differentiation between teams, whereas if there were a lot of clears it would be difficult for the top squads to shine. Other riders seemed more trepidatious about what is to come if there’s a step up from this opening challenge.
5. Alternates shining. Karl Cook (USA), Federico Fernandez (Mexico) and Olivier Perreau (France) all moved up from the alternate spots to their respective nations’ teams during the 24 hours before today’s competition and all acquitted themselves well to help those squads through to tomorrow’s showdown. We look forward to seeing more of them in action.
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