It’s been three years since the U.S. squad of Jessica Springsteen, McLain Ward and Laura Kraut stood on the podium, having earned silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Ward (Ilex) and Kraut (Baloutinue) are back at the Paris Olympic Games, this time joined by Kent Farrington (Greya), who competed as an individual in Japan, and Karl Cook (Caracole De La Roque) who will serve as the traveling alternate. In Tokyo the individual competition happened first, but this year returns to the traditional format of the team competition going first, followed by the individual competition.
Like last time around, each team will have only three riders, which means there will be no drop scores, so every rider’s performance counts toward the team total. The chef d’equipe can choose to swap the alternate rider for one of the team riders before the individual competition, with a maximum of three riders from each country going to the individual medal round. Team USA took advantage of this in Tokyo, where Ward sat out the individual competition then jumped for the team medals, and Farrington rode in the individual competition but missed the team competition.
Additionally, in the event of an accident or injury to a rider or horse between the team qualifier and the team final, the chef d’equipe may substitute in the alternates to jump in the team final.
Tokyo Olympic champion Ben Maher of Great Britain will be looking to defend his title, though this year he’s bringing Dallas Vegas Batilly rather than Explosion W. And from Sweden, the Tokyo team gold medalists, world No. 1 Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward, and the 2021 (and 2016) individual silver medalist, Sweden’s Peder Fredricson, will be there with Catch Me Not S, as well as the Netherlands’ Maikel van der Vleuten on the Beauville Z—the same horse he rode to Tokyo bronze. London 2012 individual gold medalist Steve Guerdat of Switzerland will bring Dynamix De Bélhème, and 2004 Olympic champion Rodrigo Pessoa will have Major Tom this time around.
Three-time World Cup Final winner Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum has predictions for who will excel at the Olympics. You can read them here.
When: Aug. 1-2, 5-6
Medal Days: Team—Friday, Aug. 2
Individual—Tuesday, Aug. 6
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Where: The Park at Versailles in Paris
How To Watch: Peaco*ckTV.com is streaming all equestrian sports live. (All times Eastern). Other networks will have replays.
Team qualifier—5 a.m. Thursday on Peaco*ck and 4 p.m. on E!
Team finals and medals—8 a.m. Friday on Peaco*ck and E!, 11:15 a.m. on NBC, 9 p.m. on USA.
Individual qualifier—8 a.m. Monday on Peaco*ck, 4 p.m. on E!
Individual Final—4 a.m. Tuesday on Peaco*ck, 7 a.m. on E!, 10:15 a.m. on NBC
How Team Medals Are Decided: All the teams compete in the team qualifier. Riders who do not start, or who withdraw, retire or are eliminated from the team qualifier won’t receive a score. If a team only finishes with two athletes, its final placing will be determined by penalties earned by those two riders, but it will finish behind all teams in which all three pairs completed the qualifier. If only one athlete completes the qualifier, that person’s team will be eliminated. If any team has a horse or rider disqualified, the entire team is then disqualified from the rest of the competition.
The top 10 teams—plus all teams tied for 10th—will advance to Friday’s team final. The starting order in the team final is the reverse order of classification from the qualifier.
In case of teams tied for first place on penalties in the team final, there will be a jump-off against the clock in which all three athletes participate. If there’s a tie for any other placing, the teams are placed according to the combined penalties and times of the three athletes who completed the initial round of the team final.
How Individual Medals Are Decided: After two rest days, 75 horse-and-rider combinations will compete in the individual qualifier Monday. Athletes will be placed according to their penalties and time, with the 30 best combinations returning for the individual final Tuesday. It’s a clean-slate final, with riders competing in reverse order of go, using results from the qualifier to determine the starting order, with the best rider going last. Combinations tied for first after the individual final will compete in a jump-off. Whoever has the best score in the jump-off will be placed first.
