The deciding round at Greenwich started just before 3pm UK time, with the sun shining down on a beautiful course that included ‘typical’ British sights such as the Houses of Parliament, a London Bus and the Uffington White Horse – this fence depicts the famous prehistoric 110 metre long hill figure formed from trenches and filled with chalk. The ‘real’ figure is situated in Oxfordshire, close to the middle of England.
Above: all nations walk the course.
Our Edwina Tops Alexander with Itot du Chateau, pictured above, was unlucky to gain eight fence penalties for two knock downs and a time penalty, taking her to nine points after her round. As the only woman in the final she did everyone proud and fought a close contest! (Photo by Kit Houghton/FEI.)
Kamal Bahamdan for Saudi Arabia on Davros rode a sterling round to finish on just two points and a time of 83.45 – this grey horse has really become a favourite with the home crowd.
Steve Guerdat from Switzerland rode a swift clear round on Nino Des Buissonnets to gain a time of 77.56 with three riders to go – this put him into the lead and meant Scott Brash, up next for Britain, had a hard time to beat. Scott was aiming for a fast time as usual with Hello Sanctos and knocked the double – after this he didn’t ease up on the speed, to make a time of 78.01, but a medal was out of his grasp.
Marcus Ehning for Germany was second-last to go but knocked two fences. This left Britain’s Nick Skelton to fight Steve Guerdat for Gold, assuming he could go clear. But shock horror… Nick knocked a fence, his first in the entire competition. This left him on four points.
With Steve Guerdat having bagged gold, it meant a jump off for silver and bronze between Gerco Schroder for the Netherlands and Cian O’Connor for Ireland. Having lost their top rider from the medals, the London crowd switched their allegiance to neighbouring Ireland. It was a tight contest that saw Cian beat Gerco’s time – but knock the final fence in a nail biting finale. This left Gerco in second place and Cian in third.
What an exciting competition this has been – congratulations to all of the riders and their support teams!
The individual gold medalist, Steve Guerdat of Switzerland, riding Nino Des Buissonnets - here he is pictured at Rolex FEI World Cup in Lyon with the horse. Credit Kit Houghton FEI.
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