THE WORLD NUMBER one rider, lying scrunched on the ground next to a statuette of Phryge, the 2024 Olympic Games mascot, his horse comforted by the Swedish team in the corner. Even Henrik von Eckermann and Lord Edward were no match for the Grégory Bodo-Santiago Varela Ullastres designed course in Château de Versailles on a stunningly hot morning, 20km from the centre of Paris. Pastel hues were chosen for unusually skinny, dastardly deep and breathtakingly high obstacles to add beauty to the scene for the 20,000-strong crowd, but also difficulty for the 30 riders and horses in today’s equestrian jumping individual final.
“It’s a very tough track,” Ireland’s 22nd place rider Shane Sweetnam said after he came off the course. “It walks very tough..
. Probably the biggest I’ve ever walked. Fifteen jumps, which I’ve never seen before.
” It was the first of those 15 jumping efforts – standing at 1.6m – that ruined the day for many of the pairs. For those who did master those multi-coloured rails, the second teal gate of the fifth pass proved itself an even more deadly adversary.
And for riders who got complacent having almost completed a clean run, the LA 2028-adorned 15th obstacle was waiting to have the last laugh. In the end, only three horses cleared the entire course and they shared the gold, silver and bronze spoils with their German, Swiss and Dutch riders (in that order). Sweetnam and his Irish horse James Kann Cruz came undone – like many others –.