United States Eventing Association

Star-Studded Lineup Make Up Both Team & Individual Standings following Cross-Country at 2024 Paris Olympics

Paris, France—July 28—Great Britain continues to hold the lead in the eventing team competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after a thrilling day of cross-country action in the magnificent parkland of Château De Versailles on Saturday.

Team Germany, who were second after yesterday’s opening dressage phase, saw a bump off the saddle for Christoph Wahler aboard Carjatan S resulting in elimination and thus putting them 14th of 16 competing nations, as the action resumes with tomorrow’s medal-deciding show jumping phase.

To the delight of the thousands of French fans who turned out to enjoy wonderful sport in the most spectacular of venues today, it is the hosts, Team France, that sit in the silver medal spot. Japan, following three brilliant rounds, has moved up from overnight fifth into the bronze medal position, followed by Switzerland, Belgium, and New Zealand in the next three placings.

The running score of 82.5 for Britain leaves them just 4.7 penalty points ahead of the French, while Japan is 6.6 points further behind.

Meanwhile, a masterclass of cross-country riding saw Germany’s final team member, Michael Jung, overtake Laura Collett at the top of the individual leaderboard when the British rider picked up time penalties. Adding nothing to his dressage score, Australia’s Christopher Burton held on to the bronze medal spot, so it’s even closer in the battle for individual medals.

Jung leads on his score of 17.8 with the 16-year-old Hanoverian gelding Chipmunk FRH (Contendro I x Havanna) and Collett, who yesterday posted an even higher record-breaking Olympic eventing dressage score of 17.50, goes into tomorrow’s final phase on a mark of 18.3. Sitting on a 22.0, Burton can’t afford any mistakes because fourth-placed Felix Vogg from Switzerland is breathing down his neck on a running tally of 22.1.

It’s going to be a nail-biting conclusion when show jumping gets underway at 10:30 a.m. local time.

First out on the cross-country track today, defending individual Olympic champion Julia Krajewski from Germany, showed just how to tackle it when coming home with Sophia Rossel's 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding Nickel 21 (Numero Uno x Orchidee V) adding only time faults to her scoreline.

“I was maybe a bit careful in the beginning," she reflected. "The ground changes a lot and you lose time here and there, but the most important is that he should be happy and fit for the last three minutes, so I didn’t want to push him too much in the beginning.

“He did everything absolutely perfectly and in the last water I didn’t take the safer option, and he did it like a pro, so that makes me very proud of him. He’s so rideable and honest!”

Wahler was next to go for Germany, but his unplanned dismount suddenly dropped his team out of contention, but that didn’t mean that Jung, going late in the order, and with all the confidence in the world, wouldn’t give it his best shot. He has twice won the individual Olympic title and he’s more than keen to make that happen again. Coming home with Klaus and Sabine Fischer, Joachim Jung, and DOKR’s Chipmunk FRH in 8 minutes 55 seconds, well inside the time allowed of 9 minutes 2 seconds, they strutted into the individual lead.

“Today was a lot of moments to enjoy. Chipmunk made it very easy for me. Every jump was easy— he was so well listening and connected to me, and so powerful galloping”, Jung said. He felt his horse was cruising so easily that they were under absolutely no pressure. “I checked the time, and said ‘OK we have more time at the next fence so slow down, slow down!’ It was an unbelievable feeling. I’m so thankful to have such good horses, and to be at my fourth Olympic Games is a dream. It’s always a special feeling [to compete at the Olympic Games], even if it’s the first time here," he said.

Asked if he is concerned about tomorrow’s final jumping test he replied, “Normally he show jumps very well, and he wasn’t a bit tired at the end today. In fact, he felt so good he wanted to do it all over again! It was so enjoyable and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. He’s in top shape at the moment."

Like so many of the other athletes, Jung was enthralled by the enthusiasm of the crowds who packed the cross-country sidelines all the way around the track.

“They were unbelievable! So many people are here watching the course, it’s fantastic! And Chipmunk didn’t mind—I think he had so much fun galloping around the park!”

Collett described her tour of the track aboard London 52 (Landos x Vernante), who she co-owns with Keith Scott and Karen Bartlett, as “Such a buzz!” She decided not to jump the ditch following the drop at fence 16, which proved the undoing of Germany’s Wahler, instead taking the left-hand option.

“Up until this morning, I was planning to jump the right-hand corner, but I watched a few and it looked like the striding to the left corner was a bit easier and more obvious for the horses so I changed my mind. I felt the ditch was a bit of a nothing ditch and there were too many unknown circumstances there about how he would read it and jump it. And with only three strides to the double brush I felt that was an unnecessary risk - some of the first ones that went didn’t make a mistake, but they didn’t understand the question”, she explained.

While Jung is super-confident about his horse in tomorrow’s deciding jumping phase, Collett is more reserved about her prospects with the 15-year-old Holsteiner gelding. The atmospheric stadium at Versailles will certainly play its part on the final day in this discipline. “He was very spooky in Tokyo with the crowd, so I’m just hoping he will turn up tomorrow like he has the last few days," she said.

It certainly won’t faze Burton who turned away from his lifetime involvement in eventing for a few years to specialize in show jumping instead, but who was lured back to his original passion when offered the ride and part ownership with Guy Bloodstock Ltd. on the 14-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding Shadow Man (Fidjy of Colors x Favorite Van De Keezerswinning) this spring. However, even though the Australian has a world of experience behind him, he’s not taking anything for granted when it comes to tomorrow’s final test.

“I’m trying not to think about that at the moment, I don’t want to get too nervous ahead of tomorrow, so I’ll just make sure the horse is OK and happy this evening, and give him a jump in the morning and see how he feels and hopefully I can do my best," he said.

Felix Vogg secured the Swiss team’s improvement from seventh to fourth place with his brilliant run with Phoenix Eventing's Selle Francais gelding Dao De L’ocean (Kannan x Heddy) which also left him fourth individually. He came prepared for all the excitement but found himself overwhelmed by how well the relatively inexperienced 11-year-old gelding coped with it all.

“I began with my plan over the first part of the course, but I didn’t get a good ride over the first few fences, so I left the horse to do it himself and he was fantastic! I knew the crowd would be huge here so I went to Wiesbaden [Germany, where he won the CCI4* S] to train this because there the crowd is even closer than here, and I did it to train him especially for the Olympics," he explained. That certainly paid off today.

And the brilliant Japanese trio of Ryuzo Kitajima, Yoshiaki Oiwa, and Kazuma Tomoto were so rock solid when slotting into the bronze medal spot. They all have their own British trainers, Oiwa guided by Pippa Funnell, Tomoto trained by William Fox-Pitt, and Kitajima working closely with Angela Tucker. They quietly cruised into a medal position when both Tomoto and Oiwa added nothing to their scores.

Oiwa credited Funnell for the performance that sees them in individual fifth place this evening, loving the cross-country experience today.

“It was so beautiful. All the way around people were cheering for us, the atmosphere was amazing, and this is just an amazing horse. I’ve only been riding him for the last three months but he knows everything! From the beginning, I was trying to get the time. Pippa gave me a lot of advice and all the instructions, so it has made it possible for me to do this," he said.

Meanwhile, the French have every reason to be very happy with their day today as well. The wall of sound when each one of them set out across the course was extraordinary, the spectators urging them on with every stride. And when Nicolas Touzaint, second-last to go, set sail with Diabolo Menthe there was a Mexican wave of wild cheering that followed him with every stride.

“It was so amazing, I always expected they would make a lot of noise, but I couldn’t believe how fantastic they were all the way around the course!” However, the French are not getting too carried away with it all. As Touzaint said this afternoon, “It’s not over until it’s over. Tonight we take care of our horses and spend some quiet time together as a team because tomorrow there is still a lot more work to be done…..”

After cross-country, Team USA goes into the final phase in ninth place. Access the U.S. specific write-up from today here.

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