Great Britain collects first Paris olympic gold at Team Eventing

Tokyo 2020 champions Laura Collett, Tom McEwen, and world number one Ros Canter secured victory in the final showjumping stage at Chateau de Versailles, finishing 12.3 clear of France. Team GB ended the competition with 91.30 penalties, while Japan took bronze.

Back to Back gold for GB

Oliver Townend joined Collett and McEwen in Tokyo 2020, marking GB’s first team eventing gold in 49 years. Canter was a traveling reserve on that occasion.

Four years after that success the team successfully retained their Olympic title for the first time since achieving back-to-back golds in 1972.

Great Britain’s riders will compete for individual eventing medals in the final, starting at 14:00 BST.

Collett is in bronze medal position, 1.3 penalty points behind Michael Jung, while second-placed Australian Christopher Burton is 0.7 ahead. Tokyo silver medallist McEwen is fourth, 2.7 penalty points off the podium. 

Canter, with Lordships Graffalo, is 23rd overall after 15 jumping penalties in the cross country.

Performance by Team GB

British equestrian Canter’s controversial ruling against her was upheld after a review, allowing France to cut Great Britain’s lead to 4.7 from 7.4. Collett’s individual Olympic record display contributed to a team Olympic record in dressage, but the cross country result put Great Britain under pressure in the final eventing phase.

However, the British team produced a superb finish in Monday’s medal decider, despite Canter’s penalty misfortune. McEwen’s penalty-free performance tightened GB’s grip on the team gold, and Collett delivered the golden touch despite 4.8 penalty points. The British team celebrated another golden moment with their outstanding performance.

London 52 rider, Collet eyes individual gold

Collett, 34, nearly died in a fall in 2013, after which she spent six days in a coma, having received a punctured lung, spine, shoulder and rib fractures, and losing much of her eyesight in one eye. Yet, she came back strong and helped team GB win back to back gold at Team Eventing. Now to eyes for the individual gold.

She has referred to London 52 as “the horse of a lifetime,” and the pair will return for the individual final with gold medal dreams, three years after finishing ninth in the individual competition while teammate McEwan made the podium.

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