The answer to the question above is not just “airplanes.”
It was time for a re-think after the team failed to finish in the top five at the FEI World Show Jumping Championships last week, which would have been an automatic ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The American show jumpers didn’t even make it to the line-up of 10 teams that battled it out for the medals in Herning, Denmark, but coach Robert Ridland has a plan that should land his squad in Paris at the right time. As he pointed out, there are other opportunities upcoming to make the cut for the Olympics.
Coach Robert Ridland began his winning streak with the U.S. show jumping team eight years ago. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
First is the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona, Spain, in the autumn of 2023. The U.S. didn’t qualify for the final in Barcelona this year due to a variety of circumstances including the EHV-1 outbreak in California, but will go all out for next year. The highest-placed nation that is not already qualified for the Olympics can manage it through this route. But that’s only one available spot.
Then there are the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, Oct. 31-Nov. 3, 2023.
They are the final qualifier for the Olympics. Three of the highest-placing teams not previously qualified would become eligible for the Olympics. However, this time all the teams (unless one from the Western Hemisphere gets lucky in Barcelona) will be vying for an Olympic spot, since only Europeans were in the top five group at the championships in Denmark. That means the qualifiers for Paris will be the Pan Am medalists.
In the years when the U.S. qualified for the Olympics at the World Championships, the Pan Ams presented an opportunity for less-experienced riders to gain championship mileage.
But it’s a different story for 2023. Robert sees the Pan Ams not only as a must-do for a top team, but also “a dress rehearsal for the Olympics.”
Because Chile is in the Southern Hemisphere, the Pan Ams will be held later than its customary schedule. It’s our autumn but South America’s spring. Pan Ams usually are held in the Northern Hemisphere’s mid-summer.
“I want to take advantage of the fact it’s quite close to the Olympic Games, which is important,” Robert said of the Pan Ams.
“That was the plan we’ve been hatching for some time now. It makes a lot of sense in the lead up to Paris.”
So the U.S. squad will include A-team riders, as well as “one or two of the younger horses we want to see in a championship before you hit them with a big time world championship or the Olympic Games. It’s a perfect opportunity for that,” commented Robert.
Robert Ridland is planning on how the U.S. flag can be raised high for show jumpers on the podium at future championships. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
“Hopefully, it will work out and a similar type team will be in Paris eight months later.”
Putting things in perspective, Robert suggested, “You have to look back on the last two Olympic cycles and what we did. And a lot of things we were consistent with. The first Olympic cycle, Normandy (the 2014 world championships), Toronto (the 2015 Pan Ams) and Rio (the 2016 Olympics), we had a podium finish all three, which is rare in one Olympic cycle. We repeated the same thing in two cycles,” the next being Tryon, Lima and Tokyo.
“That’s unprecedented. No team I’m aware of in the last 50-60 years has ever done that. That’s a pretty good winning streak.”
At the same time, he pointed out, “As with all winning streaks in sport, the Lakers, the Yankees–at some point, they come to an end, and what do you do? Start a new one.”
This time, “the pendulum swung with the injuries, that affects the depth,” he said. The injuries ruled out two Olympic team silver medal mounts, Laura Kraut’s ride Baloutinue and Jessie Springsteen’s, Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, who weren’t available for the world championships, as as well as Jessie’s world championships reserve horse, RMF Zecilie.
“The bottom line is, we didn’t have the horsepower” said Will Connell, the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s director of sport, quickly adding that at the same time, “there isn’t a need to panic. This needs to be looked at as a catalyst for launching forward, for stepping up again, not getting depressed and looking back.”
After the experience in Herning, Robert said, “You wake up the next morning and plan for the next winning streak. I have been planning our lead-up to Paris and hope we’ll end up with a successful result there.”
On the bright side, the dressage team qualified for Paris by finishing sixth in its championships in Denmark, while the para dressage squad qualified for the Paralympics with a team bronze medal.The eventing squad will go for its qualification next month at the FEI World Championships in Pratoni, Italy.
“Herning shouldn’t be all about the jumping team,” Will pointed out, citing the successes.
He mentioned that competing in Europe is a big deal convenience-wise for riders from the U.S., while the Europeans often can just load their horses on a van and drive to their next stop, then head home. Think about the proximity of France, Germany and Switzerland, for instance.
“Our people compete and train and take themselves away from home,” he said.
That makes for “a hard three years,” during the Olympic cycle, as Will put it. He added that there were “no (U.S.) athlete horse/combinations that didn’t want to go to Herning but should have gone to Herning. We had the best available. The pride in team among the top U.S. athletes is as strong as any other nation in the West.”
The reality was that Lillie Keenan and Brian Moggre (at 21 the youngest in the competition but who finished ahead of the other riders on the team) were on their first championship squad, while Adrienne Sternlicht, a member of the 2018 gold medal world championships squa, hadn’t competed at this level for several years with Cristalline. All three are in their 20s. Robert usually puts just one younger rider on his teams, but no veterans were available this time around except McLain, who had only one fault-free trip in the team competition.
Robert noted the teams “more in contention in Herning than others were the ones with two superstar riders, who had serious championship success. We had a team with one of those riders,” he said, referring to McLain.
