‘I believe we can do it’: medals beckon as epic day of Olympic cross-country concludes

Great Britain remains in gold medal position following an action-packed day of Olympic eventing cross-country – while Germany holds the individual top spot at the Paris Games.

Thanks to superb rounds from Tom McEwen and JL Dublin, Laura Collett and London 52, and Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo, the Brits have maintained their lead and sit on 82.5pen ahead of tomorrow’s showjumping (28 July). Tom jumped clear inside the time, Laura accrued 0.8 of a time-penalty, and Ros was given 15 penalties for a flag – but this is under review.

One of the biggest surprises of the day was Germany dropping out of the team medal standings, following Christoph Wahler’s elimination when he fell from Carjatan S. This paved the way for France to move into the silver team position on 87.2pen. Karim Laghouag and Triton Fontaine remained on their dressage score, while Stephane Landois and Chaman Dumontceau had 2.8 time-penalties, and Nicolas Touzaint and Diabolo Menthe picked up 3.2 time-penalties.

Nicolas said the French team had been “expecting something extraordinary, but not as much as this”.

“It’s quite incredible,” he said, adding that they need to stay concentrated on the task. “There’s not many points between us and Great Britain, or Japan either, so we need to keep focused.”

Diabolo Menthe is only 11, and Nicolas said he felt a little “agitated” to begin with across country, but once he settled he was “with him all the way”.

“It was he who helped me out, he was really my friend today. The ground was perhaps a little stickier than we expected, which explains the time-faults a bit,” he said.

“There’s a lot of pressure on these three days. We’ve been talking about nothing else for so long. It’s the most pressure I’ve felt in my career, definitely, but that’s a positive thing.”

Japan rise into medal position

Japan has risen from fifth to the bronze medal position after the Olympic cross-country, on a team score of 93.80. Ryuzo Kitajima and Cekatinka added 6.4 time-penalties to their 34.5 dressage, while Yoshi Oiwa and MGH Grafton Street and Kazuma Tomoto and Vinci De La Vigne both jumped clear inside the time.

Kazuma was “really pleased and proud” of 15-year-old Vinci De La Vigne, who is owned by the Japanese Equestrian Federation.

“He knows everything; what he needs to do, what I want him to do. He’s an absolute professional horse, especially in the big events. At home, he’s like a lazy boy but in a big atmosphere he’s like, ‘Come on it’s my time’, so he was fantastic today,” said Kazuma.

“I tried to enjoy it, but concentrate on my job. I saw a few Japanese flags on the course so that was really good.”

Kazuma added that the feeling in the Japanese camp is positive, with all three riders being “very good” showjumpers. Kazuma has competed to 1.55m level in showjumping, and had hoped to compete at Paris in showjumping as well as eventing, but missed out on qualification.

“We are really hungry to get a medal and bring it back home,” said Kazuma. “Tokyo was our home ground, we felt very big pressure, but this time we’re more relaxed. I believe we can do it.”

Individual medal standings after Olympic cross-country

While Germany’s hopes of a team medal have slipped away, Michael Jung tops the individual leader board with Chipmunk FRH, still on their 17.8 dressage. Laura and London 52 are just behind them in silver on 18.3, and Australia’s Chris Burton and Shadow Man have moved into bronze – also on their dressage score, 22.

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