In a jump-off where Maikel van der Vleuten was already assured of a medal, the Dutch rider secured the bronze. The best KWPN result was for Leone Jei, the son of Baltic VDL, who finished tenth with Martin Fuchs after a jumping fault.

The new Olympic champion is Christian Kukuk. The German rider, with Checker 47, a son of Comme Il Faut, was the only one to remain faultless in the jump-off. Steve Guerdat, the Olympic champion from London, took silver. Bronze went to Maikel van der Vleuten and the Zangersheide-registered Beauville Z (by Bustique).

Disappointed
Leone Jei (Baltic VDL out of Dara ster prest IBOP-spr PROK by Corland, bred by G.M. van Mersbergen from Udenhout) jumped very well, according to Martin Fuchs. “Unfortunately, I lost my stirrup halfway through and had to complete half the course without it. I wasn’t entirely sure beforehand how to approach the last obstacle. In the moment, I didn’t want to take any risks, and that’s where I had a fault. I would have liked to ride the jump-off because Leone Jei is actually in great form,” said the Swiss rider.

Ermitage Kalone
The KWPN-approved Ermitage Kalone made two jumping faults after clearing a brilliant round in the individual qualifiers. According to his rider Gilles Thomas, the son of Catoki is not the fastest horse. “In the previous rounds, I started a bit too slowly and had to build up later. Today, I wanted to do the opposite. We’ve never jumped courses like today’s before. Before I came to the Olympics, I thought: ‘What’s so special about this? It’s the same horses and the same riders, but everything here is different. We’ve learned a lot together here.”

Two jumping faults
Two jumping faults placed I.Amelusina R 51 (Dexter R out of B.Amelusina R22 elite prest EPTM-spr PROK by Chin Chin, bred by Stal Roelofs from Den Ham) and Simon Delestre in seventeenth place in the Olympic final. “This is one of the most difficult courses I’ve ever seen in my life. I expected to stay clear, but unfortunately, I had a rail on the first obstacle. Still, as a Frenchman, it’s amazing to ride in front of a home crowd, and I look back on the Games with satisfaction, especially with the team bronze.”

Fatigue
Kim Emmen and Imagine (Cassini Gold out of Nigel ster prest sport-spr by Lord Z, bred by C. Viscaal from Albergen) couldn’t maintain the form of the past few days, with three jumping faults. “Yesterday, I said that Imagine was quick to recover and was doing well, but today, I noticed that fatigue set in. He wanted to go on, but he was tired,” said Kim Emmen. 

Finn Lente
Finn Lente (Gaillard de la Pomme out of Cherlynn Lente by Colandro, bred by W.J.M. Nijensteen from Dalfsen) and the Argentine rider José Maria Larocca had too many jumping faults in this final.

Results

Photo of Leone Jei: Dirk Caremans
Source: KWPN