It’s 7:15 a.m. EDT and the top 25 riders are still walking designer Santiago Varela’s course where they will contest the individual medals. It’s shorter than the course for the team final that finished earlier today. (See the story on this website) with a 60-second time allowed.
The International Olympic Committee does not allow competitors to win two medals for one performance.So in 1996, it was decided to have a separate competition to determine the top 25 individual placings in eventing. As a result, horses that have competed in dressage, cross-country and show jumping must take one more test.
In my opinion, that’s unnecessary and too much to ask of the horses– especially in 81 degree temperatures with 84 percent humidity–but arguing with the IOC doesn’t work if we want to keep equestrian competition in the Olympics. It it, however, such a shame to ask more of the most successful horses as they go into the a second round of stadium jumping to determine the individual medals.
We’re in for some exciting competition over fences set at 1.30 meters, as opposed to the 1.20 jumps in the first round. Will Julia Krajewski of Germany become the first woman (hard to believe!) to win individual Olympic eventing gold? And the third German in a row to take the title? Only a rail separates the top four in the standings.
Julia Krajewski and Amande De B’Neville. (Photo courtesy FEI)
Julia is on 25.6 penalties, followed by British team gold medalist Oliver Townend, who had a rail in the team jumping to lose his lead from cross-country and stand on 27.6 penalties. His teammate, Tom McEwen, has 28.9, and the durable, 62-year-old Australian team silver medalist Andrew Hoy–the oldest rider in the competition, has 29.6.
Germany’s Michael Jung, who was working on becoming the only three-time individual Olympic gold medalist in the sport, lost his edge when his horse, Chipmunk, triggered a frangible pin at a cross-country fence on Saturday. That resulted in 11 penalties being added to his dressage score putting him eighth at this moment on 32.1.
Another rider of note is Japan’s Kazuma Tomoto, who trains with British Olympic multi-medalist William Fox-Pitt. Kazuma stands seventh on 31.5 penalties, which should make up in some small part for the Japanese team’s failure to get as close to the podium as they did at the 2018 FEI Woirld Equestrian Games, where they were fourth. They wound up 11th here.
Riders from the sixth-placed U.S. team are out of sight of the podium, but still could bring home a good placing. Boyd Martin is 15th on 38.2 penalties, while Phillip Dutton (the individual bronze medalist from Rio 2016) is 19th with 43.3 and Olympic first-timer Doug Payne is 20th on 43.8. Great they all made the cut for the individual.
Each toppled a rail in the team round; let’s hope the fences stay up in this one.
We’ll bring you the results as the riders go, so keep coming back to this page.
Riders walking the individual eventing show jumping course.
Here is a look at the course diagram for the route in the stadium at Baji Koen Equestrian Park.
7:50 a.m. EDT: The first two riders, Fouaad Mirza of India and Felix Vogg of Switzerland, both had time penalties. Make that three:–Jesse Campbell of New Zealand also had time penalties along with two rails. Now it’s four; add Susanne Bordoni of Italy to the time penalty list.
7:55 a.m. EDT: Still waiting for someone to make the time The horses look tired. Alex Hua Tian of China had four rails and 1.6 time penalties.
8 a.m.:Doug Payne collected 4.40 penalties for a total of 48.2, which would turn out to be the best score of the U.S. riders. Phillip Dutton pulled the last two rails in the triple combination and wound up on 54.1 penalties.
8:05 a.m. EDT: We have our first round within the time. Austin O’Connor on Colorado Blue did it in 59.65 second with one rail down. His total is 59.65.
8:a.m. EDT: Lea Siegl of Austria makes the time with a rail, ending on 47 penalties.
Tim Price of New Zealand, the world number two, finishes on 60.4 after three rails and time penalties.
The last U.S. rider, Boyd Martin, had the first two down in the triple combination and a rail at the next-to-last fence as well as 1.6 time penalties that left him on 52.30.
8:15: Australia’s Kevin McNab had 12 penalties to wind up on 46.90, going after his teammate Shane Rose, who dropped only one pole.
8:20 a.m. EDT: We have our first double-clear of this round. Nicolas Touzaint on Absolut Gold, who is worth his weight in gold. He will be sixth, with 33.90 on his account.
Michael Jung, who led after dressage but got 11 penalties for a frangible pin problem cross-country, has a rail to end on 36.10. He had been hoping to be the only person to get three individual golds in the sport at the Games. Instead, he finished eighth.
8:25 a.m. EDT: What a magnificent achievement for Japan. Kazuma Tomoto logged only 0.4 time penalties for going less than a second over the time allowed, and no jumping penalties. His total is an impressive 31.90 with Vinci de la Vigne. He is fourth, just missing the podium.
8:35 a.m. EDT: Andrew Hoy, foot perfect, finishes on his dressage score of 29.60, the only rider in the competition to do so. Stands fourth–will he get higher? Depends on the three ahead of him.
Of his horse, Vassily de Lassos, he said, “We got the horse on 13th May 2017, the day Steffi and I got married, so an easy day to remember. Got him from Tom Carlile and for me it’s an absolute joy to work with him every day, every day he puts a smile on my face.” Especially today.
Andrew Hoy takes individual bronze on Vassily de Lassos. (Photo courtesy of the FEI)
But Tom McEwen of Great Britain collects only 0.4 time penalties and clinches at least bronze with a score of 29.30.
It’s a rail at the second fence for Oliver Townend and 4.8 time penalties put him on 32.40 and out of the medals in fifth, after coming into today in first place.
Then Julia Krajewski does it–the German becomes the first female individual gold medalist in Olympic eventing history with no jumping faults over two rounds, just 0.4 time penalties added to her dressage score to make a total of 26 penalties.
In the future, silver medalist Tom McEwen, gold medalist Julia Krajewski and bronze medalist Andrew Hoy won’t have to wonder where this podium shot was taken. Masks are synonymous with Tokyo.
Julia’s mount, Amande De B’eneville, was her third choice, in a way. Michael Jung’s sponsor bought her top horse, Chipmunk, two years ago. Then Samouri du Thot, who she was aiming for the Games, had to have an eye removed due to an infection.
That left Amande, and she made the best of a mare that had spent a lot of time off, but went on to win Saumur.
“Cross-country went super good. It was quite good for me that I went early (in the day), because I couldn’t watch too much,” said Julia.
“I just did my thing. And after cross-country, I was fairly positive that we could finish well, because she’s such a good jumper. And I thought, ‘Okay, if it goes wrong, it’s all in your hands.’ And before we went in, and I said, ‘Mandy we’re going to get it,’ and I think she knew it was a special day.”
Women were only allowed to start competing in Olympic eventing in 1964, when Lana DuPont was on the U.S. team. She fell twice (rules were different in those days, you could fall and get back on) and had all kinds of bumps and bruises, but she paved the way for Julia to achieve the sport’s highest honor.
Julia Krajewski did it!
So Tom McEwen is silver and the eternal Andrew Hoy bronze. Kazuma Tomoto made his own history by finishing fourth individually for Japan.
Doug Payne was the highest-placed of the Americans in 16th place, followed by Boyd Martin (20th) and Phillip Dutton (21st).
