‘I’m a bit embarrassed – he just did it so easily’: rider reflects on individual bronze position after Paris Olympics cross-country

Australia’s Chris Burton produced a silky smooth Paris Olympics cross-country round aboard his own and Guy Bloodstock Ltd’s Shadow Man to maintain overnight third individually on day two of the Olympic eventing competition.

British-based Chris stopped the clock with seconds to spare to remain on a score of 22 going into tomorrow’s final showjumping phase.

“I’m a bit embarrassed – he just did it so easily. I think you can probably make him a six-star and he’d do it,” said Chris, who took over the ride on 14-year-old Shadow Man, from British event rider Ben Hobday at the start of this season with the aim of competing him at these Games – a plan that has proven to be perfectly executed.

“He’s a beautiful animal, so thank you to Ben Hobday – he did keep banging on about how good he was, but I thought it was a bit of a sales pitch!” admitted Chris. “But Geoffrey Guy and Kate Guy at Cheddington Equestrian [of Guy Bloodstock Ltd] – I can’t thank you enough for this opportunity and being able to ride at Paris is a real treat.”

Chris spent time away from eventing in 2021 to focus on showjumping before returning to the sport this year.

“It’s fundamentally all the same, but I will tell you there were a few times this year I woke up a bit nervous thinking, ‘I wonder if I can still do this’,” said 42-year-old Chris, speaking of his return, while also admitting that he’s taken “loads” away from his time showjumping.

“I’ve always loved jumping and jumping some of the big grands prix has actually helped me. Thanks to the Australian high performance programme, I’ve been lucky to train with Nelson Pessoa. We work together with the jumping and we work together with the cross-country and after the first event I came back to, he rang me and said, ‘Do you think it makes you better?’ and I said ‘I think it does, I feel like I’m riding well’ – he said, ‘I think so too’.”

Chris explained after his Olympics cross-country round that he is “trying not to think about being third at the moment”.

“I don’t want to get too nervous ahead of tomorrow, so we’ll just make sure the horse is okay and then we’ll give him a little jump in the morning to see how he feels and hopefully, I can do my best.”

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