Most show jumping followers wouldn’t expect an individual qualifying round to be the most exacting, technical test in the Olympics, but co-designers Santiago Varela and Gregory Bodo were tasked with building a track that could qualify the right number of horses without over facing those with less preparation at the 2024 Paris Games.
During Monday’s qualifying round, 75 riders contested a 17-effort track with a time allowed of 79 seconds. Whatever penalties, if any, the eventual top 30 pairs collected will be wiped clean for Tuesday’s final. Today’s placings determine the order of go tomorrow. French pair Julien Epaillard and Dubai du Cedre (Baloubet du Rouet – Urgada de Kreisker x Diamant de Semilly), fresh off a bronze medal effort in the team competition two days ago, were the quickest to qualify, stopping the clock in a time of 73.07 and securing their spot as the last to see—and with the most pressure on their shoulders—tomorrow.
Epaillard admits the individual round carries somewhat less pressure than the team round, where the responsibility of getting a team on a podium, in front of a home crowd, is notorious. For these riders, success in this individual round is icing on the cake.
“After this medal, I think all the heavy shoulders I had before are gone,” Epaillard said, noting that his mare also felt more relaxed today, which made it easier to go quicker. “I think today I rode differently, maybe more relaxed. My mare has a lot of blood, and every day she’s been more relaxed. That helped me have more precision.”
Jumping Qualifier Track: A Balancing Act
Epaillard described Varela and Bodo’s build today as not an overly big round. But the qualifier is more complex due to the fact that the team horses had already jumped two big rounds and riders from smaller nations didn’t have as much experience over a 1.60 meter or 1.65 meter track.
“It’s more delicate. Everything was a bit more open. I think it’s difficult for the builders, because some countries don’t jump this level so much,” Epaillard said. “So they have to find the middle to make a good selection, but also to avoid crashes. I think today we had good sport. And also with one down, if you are a little bit fast, you can be in, so I think it’s a perfect course. Tomorrow? They can do what they want!”
Most of today’s riders said they felt the course walked a bit “soft” and anticipated between 15 and 20 clear rounds would move forward. They weren’t off base, as there were exactly 20 clear rounds. Plus one, Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi (UAE) and Enjoy de la Mure (Vigo Cece – Carmen x Sable Rose), who jumped clear with one second of time.
“I thought there would be clears, maybe some four [penalty rounds], because Varela and Bodo actually went a bit smaller today,” Saudi Arabia’s Ramzy Al Duhami said. Al Duhami qualified 19th with Untouchable 32 (Van Helsing – Lady Oldenburg x Lady’s King), marking a strong day for the Saudis with two of their three riders through to the final. “Knowing the team horses that jumped in the earlier rounds were a bit tired with the heat, I think the designers tried to be fair. I thought you’d need to get a clear round to be there.”
Ward Out of Contention for Medal Final after Small Error
Two of the three silver medal-winning team riders for the U.S. will go through to the final round, with McLain Ward and Ilex (Baltic VDL – Calendula x Chin Chin) barely missing out on a spot with one rail down at the final fence and not quite enough speed to catch one of the 30 spots. They finished the day and their week in Paris in 34th individually.
“Ilex was brilliant, actually, and jumped it very easily,” Ward said. “Coming down the last line, it was getting easy coming to the gate. I think I got a little bit anxious and put on a little more leg than I needed and that just made him go a little flat. I think it was just a small rider error.”
As for the course, Ward was more disappointed than others in the amount of clear rounds. “Today unfortunately, with so many clears, it put us out of qualification. And that’s a little frustrating. For me, I wish it had actually been a more difficult track with a little more separation, especially for this level. We’ve seen a lot of that this year. There were 30 clear in Rotterdam and 25 clear in Aachen. My horse is also a big jumper, so I wish it was a little bit stronger track. But you still have to jump the fences clear, and that rail was my fault.”
Two U.S. Riders Qualify for Jumping Final
Karl Cook remains the sole U.S. rider out front to collect all clear rounds so far, securing his place as the 16th on the qualifying sheet with the ever-quick Caracole de la Roque (Zandor – Pocahontas D’Amaury x Kannan). Laura Kraut had to wait a bit longer to ensure she’d make it through after lowering one rail with Baloutinue (Balou du Rouet – Utika x Landor S) at the C element of the triple, but was quick enough on a time of 73.22 to qualify in 27th.
“I felt very confident going in,” Laura Kraut said after her round, at that point certain she’d not done enough to qualify for the final. “Although, it’s a different mindset when there’s so many clear already. So you know that any little mistake is going to be very costly.”
Kraut also said she didn’t hear the rail fall, and only knew she’d had one from the crowd’s reaction. Since riders usually hear the rails when the have one down, she noted that Balou must have very lightly touched it. Kraut agreed that the track was softer than she might have preferred but acknowledged the designers’ reasoning.
“I think today they went a little softer than needed because the team horses like mine had already gotten a fair number of rounds. And then were people who hadn’t done any, so they hadn’t jumped at all. So it was their first time in the ring,” Kraut said. “So they had to make it a little bit less difficult, but still very careful. Very well done. Again, so far, nobody’s on the ground. I think it’s been a great week for show jumping.”
Cook will be the last U.S. rider to see in the final round, and noted that Caracole de la Roque seemed to have benefitted from the two rest days and came out with more energy today. “She actually feels stronger, more powerful, which is a great thing,” he said. “The beginning of the course rode the way we hoped. But I messed up the line across the middle. I added one, did nine and seven, and that was my fault. I just overcooked it, but thankfully, I was on her and not on some of the others. She took care of me there and then was able to come home.”
Two Reigning Medalists Qualify for Jumping Final
We nearly didn’t see Great Britain’s Ben Maher, the defending individual gold medalist, in tomorrow’s final after his horse, Dallas Vegas Batilly (Cap Kennedy – Violetta Batilly x L’Arc De Triomphe), badly misread the colorful, slanted wall at fence 12, resulting in an awkward jump that took down the top half of the building blocks making up the fence. But fortunately he was speedy enough with a time of 73.24 to qualify in 28th for the final.
“I just keep it all exciting!” Maher said wryly in his post-ride interview. “We’re in and that’s all that matters. I don’t know what happened. She felt amazing today. She was playing a bit in the warm-up. But when I got in the ring, she honestly was jumping as good, if not better, than the other day. I think there was a shadow on the wall. So maybe I should have taken her over to take a bit of a look. She rolled around the corner and as she took off, it just took her by surprise. Luckily I’m a little older and experienced and could make a quick recovery to get home.”
Maher noted that the qualifying round is usually a difficult day. He expressed relief that the scores will start from zero again tomorrow. “I think they got a fair amount of clear rounds. But it’s very easy for higher-ranked riders to just slip the wrong side of the cutoff mark here. But we are in the Olympics, and I’m happy I’m just in.”
Additional Results
Tokyo individual silver medalist Peder Fredricson didn’t make it with Catch Me Not S (Cardento 933 – Ralmea x Ramiro’s Son). The pair lowered two rails to finish in 43rd on the day. The Netherlands Maikel van der Vleuten, individual bronze in Tokyo, and his returning partner Beauville Z (Bustique – Wrinton x Jumpy des Fontaines) did qualify, finishing 22nd today with one rail down but with a quick time of 70.94, the fastest of the four-fault finishers.
Individual medals will be decided on Tuesday, with the competition starting at 10 a.m. (Paris time) in reverse order of merit, with all scores wiped to zero, to decide the final podium finishers. In the U.S., show jumping will kick off bright and early at 4 a.m. (ET).
