It was a spectacular and decisive first day of show jumping in Rio, with Team Germany coming out swinging as expected, and the home team of Brazil putting in a surprising but not unprecedented first round as well.

It was an absolutely roller coaster of a day for the Germans, who decided last minute that due to veterinary concerns, they would not enter Marcus Ehning and Coronado NRW in these games. Ranked ninth in the world, it would have been a huge blow to any country to lose a veteran like Marcus, but the blow is softened when you have a reserve rider like Meredith Michaels Beerbaum waiting in the wings, who found out she’d be riding at 7 a.m. this morning.

Deutschland went out and did their jobs like the pros they are, going clear minus a rail from Ludger Beerbaum and Casello, who were the team’s drop score. Christian Ahlmann and the ever-so-lovely Taloubet Z, Meredith and Fibonacci, and Daniel Deusser and First Class all had beautiful clear rounds.

Home team Brazil, coached by George Morris, is also having a banner first day, with only a rail amongst them and sharing the 0 faults day with Germany.

Team USA started the day very strong with a clear round from Kent Farrington and Voyeur, hoping to set a tone for a perfect day in Rio for the Americans. But it was not to be, as Lucy Davis and Barron, Mclain Ward and Azur, and Beezie Madden and Cortes ‘C’ would all have a bone to pick with one fence on course. The eight faults is good enough to move the team forward in qualifying rounds, but they’ll have their work cut out for them on Tuesday morning.

The Canadians will enter round two one rail better, having gone 50/50 for the day with two clear rounds from Eric Lamaze and Fine Lady 5, and Amy Millar aboard Heros. Yann Candele and Tiffany Foster each had a rail.

Other 4-fault teams included Swtizerland, France, and the Netherlands, with team Qatar just behind them on five faults.

Team USA shares the 8-fault rounds with Great Britain, Spain, and Sweden.

Team Ukraine, which has been the center of so much controversy this Olympic cycle, had two falls on course to round out the bottom of the team qualifications. Today’s rounds do not eliminate teams, but are critical in deciding the order of go for future team rounds.

In the individual standings, Kent Farrington is the highest-placed American, as one of 24 clear first rounds. With four faults apiece, the three other Americans are also qualified to move on. Only the top 60 finishers will move on in the individual battle.

Non-team rider Greg Broderick and Going Global also just squeaked by the first round qualifiers on eight faults in 53rd place.

The next round of competition will begin on Tuesday August 16 at 9:00 a.m. EST. We will be providing live updates for the next round in addition to a report, so keep it locked on JN!

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Link to Full Results (You will need to switch tabs on the screen from “start list” to “results”)

Team Results:

Team Results