The second round of team competition ended with Canada tied with Germany for third place, but a jump-off settled the tie and Canada accepted fourth place. France earned a well-fought gold medal and despite working with a three-man team, the United States took home silver.
The day started with the announcement that Michael Whitaker’s stallion, Cassionato, had suffered a minor bout of colic overnight and had to be withdrawn. The pair had 9 faults and were tied for 42nd, so unlikely to continue into the individual final. Then the US team announced shortly before the class that Cortes ‘C’ had suffered a tendon injury during yesterday’s class and had to be withdrawn, leaving the US with a three-man team. As with the other withdrawal, this pair had accumulated 12 faults and were not likely to make the cut for the individual competition anyway.
As expected, course designer Guilherme Jorge made the course bigger today, but a very tight time allowed was also a major factor. So much so, when Yann Candele entered the ring as the first to go for Canada, there had only been one rider under the time allowed in 21 efforts. The pair were clear all the way around until the very last rail, but were under the time allowed.