Day 3: Olympic Eventing Cross Country Results

The Germans and Australians continue to dominate after the dressage and cross-country phases, while the American riders struggled with the cross-country course and dropped back to 7th place in the team race. A very technical course required much accuracy, and not one of the 68 riders finished within the 8-minute optimum time limit.

The Cross-Country Course

While the cross-country course was shortened by 1 kilometer because of the intense heat and humidity, it was a very technical course that required riders to ride carefully and accurately. They all navigated the tricky water combination well, but many were caught up on the angled brushes near the end, fences 27-28. The angle was very steep, and not all horses could manage it. A few cautious riders circled around from 27 to 28 and kept their rounds clean, but most went the more difficult straight route, and many paid for it.

There were 4-5 falls, but no injuries to horses or riders.

Standings After Cross-Country

The Germans are currently leading the eventing standings, Hinrich Romeike and Ingrid Klimke going one, two after cross-country. Teammates Andreas Dibowski and Frank Ostholt are also in the top 12. Ingrid was particularly exciting to watch. She’s a beautiful yet effective rider, very quiet on the cross-country horse but completely in control. Her horse was very focused and saved all of his energy for galloping and jumping, instead of head tossing and fighting to go like many of the others.

The Australians were on top after the dressage phase, and while they have dropped back to a close second behind Germany, they had an outstanding showing in the cross-country phase. All five riders went clean, incurring only minor time faults. Megan Jones had one of the best cross-country runs of all the riders and is now sitting in 3rd overall, edging out teammates Clayton Fredericks and his wife Lucinda who are currently 4th and 11th respectively. Sonja Johnson is in 13th and Shane Rose, who had the fastest time on course, is 16th.

After great runs from Mary King (currently tied for 5th individually) and William Fox-Pitt (tied for 14th), as well as near clean runs from the rest of the team, Great Britain has taken over 3rd place in the team standings.

Gina Miles was by far the best of the US team, and is currently in 5th place individually. Phillip Dutton also had a clean ride and good time, moving up to 14th individually. The rest of the team was not so lucky. Amy Tryon and Poggio II, who were on the bronze medal winning team in 2004, had a fall early on the course when she rode Pogi too close to the fence and he caught his knee and stumbled. They were eliminated from the competition. Karen O’Connor (54th) had a brilliant ride, but the inexperience of her horse Mandiba showed on two run-outs, one in which Karen should have been sent flying but managed to stay in her seat and in the competition. Becky Holder (48th) rode well over-all, but also had a run out from Comet after a poor approach to the Crouching Dragons combination.

Team Standings

1 Germany
2 Australia
3 Great Britain
4 Italy
5 Sweden
6 New Zealand
7 USA
8 Ireland
9 Canada
10 Brazil
11 France

Detailed team standings after cross-country with scores.

Top 25 Individual Standings

1 Hinrich Romeike (Marius), Germany
2 Ingrid Klimke (Abraxxas), Germany
3 Megan Jones (Irish Jester), Australia
4 Clayton Fredericks (Ben Along Time), Australia
5 Gina Miles (McKinlaigh), USA
5 Mary King (Call Again Cavalier), Great Britain)
7 Didier Dhennin (Ismene du Temple), France
8 Andreas Dibowski (Butts Leon), Germany
9 Karin Donckers (Gazelle de la Brasserie), Belgium
10 Kristina Cook (Miners Frolic), Great Britain
11 Lucinda Fredericks (Headley Britannia), Australia
12 Frank Ostholt (Mr. Medicott), Germany
13 Sonja Johnson (Ringwould Jaguar), Australia
14 William Fox-Pitt (Parkmore Ed), Great Britain
15 Phillip Dutton (Connaught), USA
16 Shane Rose (All Luck), Australia
17 Roberto Rotatori (Irham de Viages), Italy
18 Linda Algotsson (Stand By Me), Sweden
19 Peter Flarup (Silver Ray), Denmark
20 Susanna Bordone (Ava), Italy
21 Katrin Norling (Pandora), Sweden
22 Magnus Gallerdal (Keymaster), Sweden
23 Daisy Dick (Spring Along), Great Britain
24 Vittoria Panizzon (Rock Model), Italy
25 Caroline Powell (Lenamore), New Zealand

Detailed cross-country individual results with complete list and scores.

The eventing portion of the Olympic equestrian competition will conclude Tuesday evening in Hong Kong. Watch it live on NBCOlympics.com at 7:15 am Tuesday, August 12.

If you missed the cross-country phase of eventing live online, it will be replaying on Oxygen (for US viewers) from 6:00pm-8:00pm on Monday, August 11.

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