Britain bags Eventing team gold

Great Britain claimed Eventing team gold in convincing style at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Baji Koen tonight where Australia took silver and France the bronze.

In a gripping contest British pathfinder, Tom McEwen, led the way with a brilliant clear from Toledo de Kresker, but there was a heart-stopping moment when Laura Collett’s London 52 took fright at the light shining on the water-tray under fence four. The horse froze in the air and scattered poles everywhere but the pair made a brilliant recovery to finish with just four faults on the board.

So when Oliver Townend’s Ballaghmor Class hit only the first element of the bogey double at nine and left all the rest standing, Team GB claimed the top step of the medal podium by a margin of 13.9 penalties, on a final tally of just 86.30.

This brings the British tally of Olympic Eventing team gold to four which puts them on level pegging with Australia and the USA. Their last win was at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972.

Shane Rose was the only member of the veteran Australian side to hit a fence tonight, picking up four faults with Virgil at the double four from home. Clears from Kevin McNab (Don Quidam) and Andrew Hoy (Vasilly de Lassos) brought their final scoreline to 100.20 while Nicolas Touzaint (Absolut Gold), Karim Florent Laghouag (Triton Fontaine) and Christopher Six (Totem de Brecey) were close behind in bronze on 101.50.

In the battle for the Individual medals, the top-25 now go through to another round of jumping and a clear round tonight has moved Germany’s Julia Krajewski and Amande de B’Neville into pole position with Britain’s Townend in second ahead of fellow-Briton McEwen in third while the incredible 62-year-old Andrew Hoy is in fourth ahead of Collett in fifth place. Just 4.2 points separate the top five.

Results here