Miroslav Tranda and Shatterfryk. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Less than a week after the individual all-around competition quotas for this summer’s Paris Olympics were announced, major revisions have been made that will see additional countries qualify for the Games.
Seventeen individual spots were awarded following a year-end deadline for each team country to confirm eligibility. These are awarded on the basis of Olympic ranking points, and the individual horse and jockey who achieved the highest Olympic ranking within their regional group effectively qualified for their country, although not necessarily for themselves. These individual slots were originally awarded as follows:
Olympic Ranking – Group A: Denmark (1) and Finland (1)
Olympic Ranking – Group B: Spain (1) and Austria (1)
Olympic Ranking – Group C: Lithuania (1) and Hungary (1)
Olympic Ranking – Groups D & E*: Chile (1), Argentina (1), Ecuador (2)
Olympic Ranking – Group F: South Africa (1) and Morocco (1)
Olympic Ranking – Group G: China (2)
Top 3 overall rankings: Spain (+1), Finland (+1), Denmark (+1)
Amendments have been made to the final group, which is the country with the highest overall ranking. The final spot was originally awarded to Denmark, but as a result of winning that spot, Mia Hastrup and Konstantin M.’s result was actually tied with Miroslav Tranda and Shatterflyk. The consistency of the athletes’ performances forced them to use the FEI tie-break, which favors the highest cross-country scores at the highest level of competition. The same goes for Tranda. He and Shatterflyk took third place in the CCI4*-L in Floresti with a clear cross-country round and a 5.6 time penalty, ahead of Hastrup and Konstantin M, who were also third in the CCI4*. Competed in L at Strzegom in 2023, but added 14.8 time penalties. The Czech Republic will return to the Olympics, while Denmark will also maintain its individual spot by leading Group A.
A longlist of nominations is being sought from each country by March 28th, and organizers in Paris have until July 8th to submit their final entries. A contestant must obtain her required final MER by June 24th.
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