The U.S. show jumping team is in the Barcelona Nations Cup Final Sunday but has yet to qualify for Paris Olympics
- Details
- September 29, 2023
- By SARA CAVANAGH
BARCELONA, Spain--"We live to fight another day," said U.S. chef d'equipe Robert Ridland as the team finished sixth in the first round of the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final on Thursday, Sept. 28 to make it into the second and final round of the Final on Sunday.
McLain Ward on Callas (Photo by Libby Law Photography)The top eight teams of the 15 that competed in the first round of the Final will compete in the second round at 9 am Eastern time Sunday with all eight teams starting even on 0 faults.
The team accomplished its first goal, which was to make it to the Sunday Final, but its biggest goal, that of qualifying for the Paris Olympics has yet to be achieved, as Brazil also made it through to Sunday.
Neither team has to win to qualify, it's only whichever team between Brazil and the U.S. finishes higher that qualifies for Paris, even if they finish seventh and eighth, as all six of the other teams that made the Final are already qualified.
The team went sixth of the 15, and McLain Ward on Callas, first to go, was clean, while Karl Cook on Kalinka van’t Zorgvliet, Jessie Springsteen on Don Juan van de Donkhoeve and Laura Kraut on Dorado 212 had 4 faults apiece for a team total of 8 faults.
“The mentality coming into Sunday is going to be to win," said Ridland. "We can make a couple of tweaks to our plan from today and we’ll be in a good place. Everyone’s very positive and when you come here, there’s just so much is on the line. It’s a lot more pressure for our group. With two teams in contention for the qualification for Paris on Sunday – that’s front and center for us. We did what we had to do today, and we live to fight another day. The real day is Sunday and we’re already focused on the weekend.”