Paris Olympic Happy Hour: Thrills & Spills in Jumping Individual Final
And … that’s a wrap for Olympic equestrian events! Christian Kukuk of Germany took gold in today’s jumping individual final.
Only three out of 30 finalists turned in fault-free rounds to advance to the jump-off: Christian Kukuk & Checker 47 (GER), Steve Guerdat & Dynamix De Belheme (SUI), and Maikel Van der Vleuten & Beauville Z (NED). Going in, all three were guaranteed medals — the only question was what color.
Two-time Olympian Christian and Checker were first to go and practically left a trail of smoke in their wake, clearing each jump and clocking a time-to-beat of 38.34 seconds. When both Steven and Maikel had a rail down, the deciding factor between silver and bronze became time and Steve’s was faster by a few tenths of a point.
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The highest placed American was Laura Kraut with Baloutinue, who finished 8th on their four-fault round. Teammate Karl Cook with Caracole De La Roque finally broke their three-for-three clean streak, taking down two rails to finish in 16th.
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So there concludes the thrills portion of this recap. And now, as promised, spills!
Mexico’s Andres Azcarraga came unattached from Contendros 2, as did Swedish superstar Henrik Von Eckermann from King Edward. The latter is a bit of a strange one, as you can see the horse beginning to drift right fairly dramatically over the jumps but then it’s like the steering goes out completely.
Guys??? https://t.co/KdULc1We1h pic.twitter.com/gFLD1rmHlD
— notbri.sol (@Xhakaed) August 6, 2024
Ah, well. A little excitement is good for the ratings, I suppose.
So, with another Olympics having come and gone (well, at least the equestrian portion), how are we feeling, Horse Nation?
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Tired of waking up early? Pumped for L.A.? Inspired to get out there and GO RIDING?!?!?
Until next time … cheers!
