Rio Olympics Show Jumping Individual Final – Live Updates (Round A)

Welcome to our third show jumping live thread of these Rio Olympics! Today 35 of the world’s best riders will return to the ring with a clean slate and compete in a two-round showdown for Olympic Glory.

#Rio2016: [Rio Website] [Live Stream] [Schedule] [JN’s Rio Coverage] [JN Twitter]

[The Start List for Round A]

The combinations will jump in reverse order of their penalties from the previous rounds, but the penalties themselves have been removed, and all riders will start at zero.

[Round B and Jump-Off Updates Available Here]

All times listed are Eastern Time (ET), which is one hour behind Rio time (CT). The second round will run at 12:30 p.m. ET today, so we expect to see a considerable break between rounds.

8:52 – Overnight Changes: The inspection was uneventful, and all horses passed yesterday’s jog. The only alteration to the start list since the last round is that Switzerland’s Janika Sprunger will not compete, as there can only be a maximum of three competitors per country in the final and all four Swiss riders had qualified. The choice was made by the team’s Coach, as all the Swiss riders were on an equal nine penalties. (THERE’S GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY, FEI.)

9:01 – And we’re off! First in the ring is Jerome Guery of Belgium.

9:03 – Jerome and his stunning chestnut will finish their round with eight penalties. Quite a course out there.

9:04 – Matt Williams and Valinski S for Australia in now. Matt too struggled in this round over two massive oxers, but both of the first two riders make the time.

Matt’s groom Laurie Pitts has been offering a backside view of life in Rio with our friends at Lucky Braids. Check it out!  

9:07 – Luciana Diniz of Portugal has the very last rail down! What a heartbreaker, and it’s all over her face.

9:08 – Nick Skelton of Great Britain in now, and Twitter explodes. Such avid fans!

9:11 – Exemplary riding from Nick and beautiful performance by Big Star for our first double clear!

9:12 – Bassem Hassan Mohammed of Qatar in now, and riding aggressively! The course includes an open water, a triple combination and lots of big, hollow fences. Bassem has the last of the triple down and the final fence on course.

9:14 – Henrick Von Eckermann and Yajamila of Sweden in now.

9:16 – Henrik has a foot in the water in an otherwise really nice round, what a pity.

9:17 – Team Orange! Harrie Smolders and Emerald come in swinging, but unfortunately swing right through the top pole of the first fence.

9:18 – That’s his only rail, what a bummer for the Paint That Ain’t (I’m sure Harrie would like me calling his multimillion euro Belgian Warmblood a “paint”.)

9:21 – Matias Albarracin of Argentina has a superb round, sassy turquoise stirrups and all to go clear, just our second of the day, but has a QUARTER of a second over time for one penalty.

9:23 – Ben Maher and Tic Tac in now for Great Britain!

9:25 – Ben and Tic Tac have the first down in the triple. Time will tell if these four-fault rounds will qualify for the second round or not.

9:26 – Edwina Tops-Alexander and Lintea Tequila in now for the Aussies, and they go HUGE for the water and are clear so far.

9:27 – MASSIVELY good double clear for Edwina and Tequila!

Did you know a woman has never won the gold medal in individual show jumping? So if you need someone to cheer for…

9:29 – Jeroen Dubbeldam of Team Orange goes double clear as well! We’re heating up now, folks.

9:31 – Our first Swiss has gone, (we’ll have three in a row) Romain Duguet. He takes home 12 penalties with him to likely end his Olympic journey for now.

9:33 – Here come the Clooneys!!! Martin Fuchs with his devilish blond locks and his stunning gray Clooney.

9:36 – The Clooneys are through! Beautiful, swift, effortless performance.

cloo

9:38 – Last Swiss and former Olympic champion Steve Guerdat and Nino des Buissonnetts make another spectacular clear performance for our next double clear!

Swiss Fans, guys:

9:40 – Yann Candele of Canada has a foot in the water, the second down in the triple combination, and the penultimate fence for 12 faults. Tough luck, Yanni.

9:42 – Eduardo Menezes of Brazil walks into the ring and everyone goes nuts. Unfortunately, he’s got a rail down in the double, a very hollow and tall vertical in the middle of the course to end at eight, but the crowd cheers like he’s won gold. What a home field advantage!

9:44 – Tiffany Foster and Tripple X of Canada in now! They had a clutch ride Wednesday, but the Canadians and Germans are at a bit of a disadvantage today having had to ride the jump-off for Bronze.

9:46 – They were looking SO good, a couple scrappy moments where the horse paddled in an oxer but left them up until they took down the very last fence for 4 total faults. We’ll see if it’s good enough to make the top 20!

We’re on our first drag break of the day, and here are our clear rounds thus far:

screenshot via NBC Olympics

screenshot via NBC Olympics

You can see every fence on course via our friend and world-class announcer John Kyle’s facebook page.

Our favorite fence today? Definitely this one:

 

We feel your pain, bro:

10:00 – We’re back from break and OMG it’s LUCY DAVIS USA USA USA USA. Did you know she brought the new Harry Potter book with her to Rio? That’s our unofficial 7th reason we love her. Did you see the other six?

10:03 – Today just wasn’t Barron and Lucy’s day. They had an early oxer, a foot in the water, and the first of the triple down. A terrible bummer, but a proud showing at their first Olympics, nonetheless. It’s not the last we’ll see of Lucy at the Olympics, I predict!

10:05 – Sergio Alvarez Moya and Carlo 273 of Spain have the round of a lifetime at the perfect moment! They go double clear to move on!

10:09 – Shiekh Ali al Thani has a spectacular clear round for Qatar!

screenshot via NBC Olympics

10:11 – Philippe Rozier of France puts a foot in the water of an otherwise really phenomenal round. Hell of a reserve rider, there, France.

10:12 – One of my two boyfriends out now, Fibonacci with the absolutely phenomenal honorary American Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum for Germany.

10:14 – Oh dear! Total implosion for Meredith and Fibsy at the very first fence. Massive miscommunication about the striding and he crashes through it. She jumps the next and retires. mer mer2

10:16 – Pedro Veniss of Brazil in now, and it really is shocking how quiet this crowd gets for their rider’s rounds!

10:17 – Poor Pedro clips out the final bar of the triple combination, but he was really trying his heart out. We’ll hope they make the cut to come back.

10:18 – I admit an unabashed admiration for the team for Qatar making their team debut after winning the Asian Games, and this rider is worth your love. Ali Yousef al Rumaihi and Gunder in now.

10:19 – They have the last rail down, Gunder’s first of these games besides time faults, and it was an utter pity. The Qataris in the Kiss and Cry look gutted on his behalf.

10:20 – Okay, this is my second boyfriend at these games, and after what I said about Fibsy I’m quite nervous. Christian Ahlmann and Toulubet Z of Germany.

10:21 – Live update confessional – TZ is my screensaver. True story.

10:22 – And TZ (and Christian) have gone clear! These two are legitimate medal contenders these games.

10:23 – Kevin Staut and Reveur de Hurtebise of France in now

10:24 – Sacre bleu! A rail for Kevin in the fence before the triple, and he finishes on four faults.

10:25 – MCLAIN MCLUTCH WARD, YOU GUYS. Let’s do this Azur. You got this.

10:26 – Clear through the water!

10:27 – That tight triple just didn’t suit Azur’s striding, and she has the last of the three down. 4 faults will bring them back to the final round, but is a major blow to their medal chances. We still love you, Mclutch!

10:28 – Brazil’s final rider in now, Alvaro Doda de Miranda has the same fence down as Kevin Staut, the fence just prior to the triple combination. That’s their only rail for 4 faults.

10:32 – Daniel Deusser for Germany a bit awkward through the double combination – almost looked like he was going down a moment, but left them up! First Class jumped out of his skin all the way around to come home double clear!!!

10:35 – Rene Tebbel of “Ukraine” and Zipper go clear as well over fences, but adds a time penalty.

10:36 – Bosty!!! Roger Yves-Bost and Sydney Une Prince are up now after putting in their beautiful team final clear that secured the gold for France. I utterly love Bosty, and he’d be a deserving medalist.

10:37 – It took a bit of scrappy flapping, but Bosty and Sydney go double clear to secure their slot in the final!

Love this enthusiasm from Bosty’s crowd!

Screenshot via NBC Olympics

Screenshot via NBC Olympics

10:41 – KENT FARRINGTON AND VOYEUR.

10:42 – HOLY FRIJOLES, VOYEUR. They go clear as our 11th clear round!!! They took a funny step in the triple and it looked dodgey for a moment, but they otherwise had a marvelous round!

That Eq. tho. Screenshot via NBC Olympics.

10:44 – Peder Fredricson and All In have a clear round for Sweden!

10:45 – Maikel Van Der Vleuten and Verdi are the penultimate riders in this first round, and the final riders from the Netherlands #teamorange

10:47 – OH! The very last fence down for Maikel and Verdi! The horse just kicks out over that last fence and bring home an unwelcome four faults with them. How gutting.

10:48 – Eric Lamaze of Canada is our last rider, the only rider without a fault in these Olympic games to this point.

10:49 – HE’S DONE IT! Still clear through another round of Olympic jumping!!! Fine Lady 5 is positively radiant over this course!

Literally the worst, but they made it, Katie!

We’re on break until 12:30 ET, when the final round of Olympic Jumping in Rio is scheduled. Get some coffee and fake work done in the meantime, and we’ll see you back here soon!