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Paris 2024 previews: showjumping ones to watch

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Sweden winTeam gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Image credit: FEI / Arnd Bronkhorst

Will the Swedes win gold again, 100 years later?

Equestrian sports joined the Olympic roster in 1912, and from the outset, the Swedish team was the one to beat in pure showjumping. In fact, they won showjumping team gold at three of the first four Olympics, at Stockholm in 1912, Antwerp in 1920 and then Paris in 1924. But their amazing run of luck ended there, and it was 97 years before their fourth team title at Tokyo 2020.

High on the back of their inspiring win in Tokyo, the Swedish team have been unstoppable in the last three years, taking gold at the World Championship in 2022 as well as at the European Championship in 2023. Meanwhile, team member Henrik von Eckermann has topped the FEI individual world rankings for two years, and there’s no sign of losing his position any time soon, with win after win on his string of horses. He’ll arrive at Paris with something to prove as, despite helping his team to gold in Tokyo, he finished just off the individual podium in fourth place with his Paris 2024 ride, 14-year-old gelding King Edward.

In fact, the Swedish riders remain unchanged from Tokyo to Paris. Peder Fredricson will be looking to improve on his individual silver in Tokyo, and will partner 18-year-old Catch Me Not S. Final team rider, Rolf-Göran Bengtsson comes to his sixth Olympics riding 12-year-old stallion Zuccero HV.

All to play for

The Swedes will have plenty of competition for the medals, with 19 other nations battling it out, not least Tokyo 2020 silver medallists Team USA and Belgium, who took bronze in 2020.

Record holders

The German squad holds the record for the greatest number of Olympic jumping gold medals, with five individual and eight team titles, won at Berlin in 1936, Stockholm in 1956, Rome in 1960, Tokyo in 1964, Munich in 1972, Seoul in 1988, Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000.

Their three back-to-back medals are unequalled, although USA has two back-to-back wins, at Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. USA team veteran McLain Ward was on the team both times, and he helped secure team silver in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and again in Tokyo in 2021. He arrives in Paris ready to help secure the best result possible for Team USA.

But if current form is anything to go by, Ireland is the one to beat. With amazing results in Nations Cup competitions in recent years, they arrive in Paris having won team silver at the 2023 European Championship and, at the start of the 2024 season, were ranked the No 1 in the world as 2024 began. The Paris games come a few weeks after an impressive win at Aachen, and their form couldn’t be better.

Standing alone

Once the team medals are decided, and the horses have had two rest days, all non-eliminated riders will jump again in the first round of the individual competition. The top 30 will go through to the individual final – the last equestrian event to be held at Versailles.

All three Tokyo individual medallists have been named on their nations’ squads, and it is here that Team GB’s hopes are strongest. Ben Maher, who steered the brilliant Explosion to victory three years ago, is currently ranked second in the world and this time rides 10-year-old stallion Point Break. Meanwhile, although Peder Fredricson’s silver medal-winning All In has retired since Tokyo, his Paris ride, Catch Me Not S, is on brilliant form, having secured third place at the World Cup Final in April. Maikel van der Vleuten returns with the same horse who won him bronze in Tokyo, Beauville Z, and the pair have since won individual bronze at the 2022 World Championships.

What to expect

In a change to the format introduced at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Team Competition will take place first, followed by the battle for the Individual medals. The Team Qualifier will take place on Thursday 1 August and is open to 20 teams of three athletes, all starting on a zero score. It will be a one round against the clock.

Team scores will be decided by adding the penalties and time incurred by all three team members. Athletes who do not start, withdraw, are eliminated or retire from the competition will not be given a score, and their team will be placed according to the combined scores of the remaining two team-members. Three member teams will be placed ahead of teams of two.

The best 10 teams, including those tied for 10th place, will qualify for the Team Final on 2 August. It will be against the clock over one round with a jump-off for first place in the event of equality of penalties. Starting order will be in reverse order of merit from the first Team competition. Disqualification of a team member will result in disqualification for that team.

The first Individual competition will take place on Monday 5 August and is a qualifier for the Individual Final the following day. It will be against the clock and without a jump-off. Athletes will place according to their penalties and in case of a tie they will be separated by the time of their round. If still tied, they will be placed equal.

The Individual Final on Tuesday 6 August is open to the 30 best-placed athletes from the first Individual competition and will one round against the clock, with a jump-off for first place if there is a tie on penalties. All athletes start on a zero score in the Individual Final and the starting order will be in reverse order of merit following the first Individual competition.

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