So close, yet so far away.
By just one penalty, the U.S. lost its bid at the FEI Nations Cup Final to beat Brazil and secure a berth for the Paris Olympics.
In Sunday’s final round of the competition in Barcelona, the U.S. had a total of 9 penalties, one more than Brazil. If they each had collected 8 penalties, the U.S. total time of 253.47 would have beaten Brazil’s 253.82.
The last chance for the U.S. to qualify a team for the 2024 Olympics will come this month at the Pan American Games in Chile, where three teams can make the cut. Realistically, the three with the best chance, along with the U.S., are Canada and Mexico. Mexico did not make the cut for the final eight teams in Thursday’s first round, and Canada did not qualify for the Barcelona competition. Argentina could also be a threat, though that country did not make the final round in Spain.
No U.S. rider had a fault-free trip on Sunday. McLain Ward and Callas, the only American pair clear on Thursday, had a rail, as did Karl Cook with Kalinka van ‘T Zorgvliet. Devin Ryan on Eddie Blue, subbing for Jessica Springsteen who rode Thursday, had eight penalties to be the drop score. Laura Kraut logged a single time fault with Dorado 212 for exceeding by a mere 0.62 seconds the 87-second time-allowed over Santiago Varela’s course.
“If any of three things could have gone our way,” mused U.S. Coach Robert Ridland, explaining the “what ifs” of how the team could have pulled it out.
He cited, “McLain’s rub at 13C (in the triple that was the next-to-last fence on course), no one even heard it, it was so light. If it had stayed up that would have done it. Same thing for Karl Cook (at the same fence). If either one of those had left that jump up or if Laura had been a half-second faster, any one of those three, not all those three, and we would have beaten Brazil. It was a good fight to the finish. It just didn’t work out our way.”
The final was won by Germany, the only country to go fault free. France was second, followed by Belgium, Brazil and the U.S. Switzerland, without some of its best horse/rider combinations, was sixth. Britain (which had won the first round, finished seventh and Ireland was eighth.