Equestrian's third discipline kicked off Thursday morning when riders took to the course in the first round of the team jumping competition.
In the jumping qualification round, riders will be tasked to complete the course within a set time limit. Penalty points are awarded for exceeding the time limit, as well as for any faults with the obstacles such as knocking over a rail or a horse avoiding an obstacle entirely. Each team has three riders, and the team score is calculated as the summation of each individual score. If any individual rider is eliminated, their team will also be eliminated from the competition.
Only one team finished with a perfect score on Thursday, with all three riders for Germany recording zeroes to put the team in first place. Christian Kukuk led the team with a time of 75.67 seconds, followed by Philipp Weishaupt coming in at 76.44 seconds and Richard Vogel at 77.63 seconds. It was a great result for the German team that finished third at the 2023 Nations Cup after it was unable to medal at the Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 World and 2023 European Championships.
The United States had a fantastic finish in the jumping qualifier after a surprise late-minute substitution saw Karl Cook replace Kent Farrington, who retired due to a health concern with his horse. Laura Kraut rode first for the U.S. and stunned with a perfect result, finishing in just 72.92 seconds. Cook also finished with zero points, while Olympic medalist McLain Ward picked up just six points to put the United States on track to defend its Tokyo silver medal. It was a strong rebound for the U.S. Equestrian team after the country was eliminated from the team dressage competition the day before.
Three teams finished with a total of eight points in qualifying, separated by just a handful of seconds. Great Britain finished in third, coming home in a combined time of 227.57 seconds. Ben Maher recorded the only perfect score for the British, while both of his teammates picked up a four-point jumping penalty. Belgium, in fourth, finished with a time of 231.52 seconds, with Gilles Thomas recording the only perfect score. The Netherlands, in fifth, had two perfect performances, but Harrie Smolders had two separate jumping penalties that kept the Dutch off the provisional podium.
The biggest surprise of the day came when gold medal favorites Sweden dropped out of the top seven in the final run. Defending world champion and World Cup winner Henrik Von Eckerman started the Swedish off with a perfect score, which was quickly matched by teammate Rolf-Goran Bengtsson. However, Peder Fredricson’s struggled in the final run, picking up two jumping penalties and nine points in time penalties to drop the team total to 17 points, leaving them in eighth place.
A total of 10 teams were eliminated from the jumping team final, including medal contender Switzerland. The complete list of results, including which teams qualified for the finals, can be found below.