Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Equestrian

It's the Tokyo 2020 Olympics!
~ This is the Equestrian thread ~

The individual final treated us to some incredible choreographies and musical creations, as well as some surprise results! Britain's Charlotte Dujardin rode an outstanding test on Gio to get her (somewhat unexpectedly) onto the podium, and the Olympic debutant Jessica von Bredow-Werndl outshone her incredibly successful and well-decorated German teammate, Isabell Werth. Here are the top 5:

Eventing is the equestrian discipline which puts all core skills to the test, and favours the all-rounder. It is a discipline of three phases; dressage, jumping, and cross country. Although marked slightly differently, the dressage and jumping in eventing are much the same as the stand-alone events, albeit less advanced. For dressage, competitors only ride a standardised test rather than the freestyles seen in stand-alone dressage competitions. The test is slightly simpler than its counterpart, and the jumping has a lower maximum height.

The cross country phase is unique to eventing, and is a huge test of fitness, speed, and accuracy. The flat sections of the course are ridden at a gallop, and jumps are solid (ie. they don't fall when hit like a show jumping jump) and are more natural looking, and there are water sections for horses to navigate. Jumps are organised in tricky combinations to catch riders out and test how well horses listen to their riders. In order to have a penalty-free round, pairings must finish within a given time and must complete all jumps cleanly.

The dressage phase began today with the first two groups completing their tests. The full report will be posted here tomorrow when the third group of dressage competitors have completed their tests.

The cross country course at the Tokyo Olympics proved a tricky course for lots of pairings in today's competition, but has been a brilliant show of skill for all involved! The British team came out of this phase stronger than ever, and some surprise faults for top riders have shaken up the order. In cross country, big penalties are given for horses refusing to jump or jumping incorrectly, and small penalties are given for each second over the maximum time. For the overall standings, faults are added from all three phases. Here are the top 5 following phase two:

Individual
1. Great Britain's Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class - 23.60 (including 0.00 cross country faults)
2. Germany's Julia Krajewski and Amande de B'neville - 25.60 (including 0.40 cross country faults)
3. Great Britain's Laura Collett and London 52 - 25.80 (including 0.00 cross country faults)
4. New Zealand's Tim Price and Vitali - 26.80 (including 1.20 cross country faults)
5. Japan's Kazuma Tomoto and Vinci De La Vigne - 27.50 (including 1.60 cross country faults)

Team
1. Great Britain - 78.30
2. Australia - 96.20
3. France - 97.10
4. New Zealand - 104.00
5. United States - 109.40

Jumping, also known as showjumping, is the equestrian discipline which not only tests horses' ability to jump high obstacles but also requires speed, bravery, good communication, and accuracy. It can be tough to gauge how big the jumps are on TV but the heights are incredibly impressive; up to 1.6m high, 2.2m wide for solid jumps and up to 4.5m wide for water jumps. To make it even tougher, there is a tight maximum time which requires riders to ride awkward lines and jump their horses at sharp angles, forcing riders to weigh up risk and reward at every turn.

The team medals will be decided in a similar way to eventing where the teams with the lowest combined penalties get the highest places. The individual final, however, is a tad more nail-biting. It is comprised of the first round where all successfully qualified riders ride the course, with lowest penalty riders ranking highest. There is almost always a handful of pairings who manage clear rounds, and these pairs will go through to the jump off where they run the course again, but this time against the clock. The fastest clear round wins so riders put it all on the line, making for a dramatic show!

Jumping kicked off this morning with qualifying, the full report will follow soon

The jumping course in the qualifying phase seems to have been a fairly uncomplicated one as 25 of the 30 successful qualifiers came away with clear rounds. There's a lot of promise for team GB, particularly for Ben Maher and Explosion W who qualified highest of everyone. Here are the top 10 ranked by time, since all are penalty-free:

1. Great Britain's Ben Maher and Explosion W - 81.34s
2. Ireland's Darragh Kenny and Cartello - 82.01s
3. Israel's Ashlee Bond and Donatello 141 - 82.84s
3. The Netherland's Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z - 84.61s
4. Canada's Mario Deslauriers and Bardolina 2 - 84.76s
5. Ireland's Bertram Allen and Pacino Amiro - 85.18s
6. Belgium's Gregory Wathelet and Nevados S - 85.20s
7. Portugal's Luciana Diniz and Vertigo du Desert - 85.62s
8. Great Britain's Scott Brash and Jefferson - 85.72s
9. Sweden's Peder Fredricson and All In - 85.83s
10. Belgium's Jerome Guery and Quel Homme de Hus - 86.10s

The jumping individual final commences on Wednesday at 11am UK time and the team final begins at 11am UK time on Saturday

The individual final gave us all the excitement it promised and more, and was an incredible result for team GB! The host team did well to have Daisuke Fukushima and Chanyon competing in the jump-off, finishing the competition in sixth place. Sweden look especially strong for the upcoming team competition as all three of their pairings reached the jump-off. Here are the full results:

Individual
1. Great Britain's Ben Maher and Explosion W - 37.85s
2. Sweden's Peder Fredricson and All In - 38.02s
3. The Netherland's Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z - 38.90s
4. Sweden's Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward - 39.71s
5. Sweden's Malin Baryard-Johnsson and Indiana - 40.76s