Showjumpers confident about qualifying for Tokyo 2020
Two opportunities remain for Britain’s showjumpers to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
BRITAIN’S showjumping team still stands an “amazing chance” of securing a spot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, performance manager Di Lampard has said.
Showjumping was the only Olympic or Paralympic discipline in which the British squad did not collect a ticket at Tryon’s World Equestrian Games (WEG), finishing two places away from qualification in eighth.
“It was so close, we were just two fences off qualifying and one time-fault away from seventh place. Considering we had three World Championship debutantes and a horse extremely inexperienced at this level [Holly Smith’s nine-year-old ride Hearts Destiny], it was a remarkable achievement,” said Di.
The top six finishers at WEG — USA, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Australia — plus host nation Japan, have now guaranteed their places at the next Games. Strong European squads Ireland, who were seventh, France, Belgium and Italy all remain in the hunt, as do Spain and Portugal.
Twenty teams are given the chance to jump at Tokyo, with all seven regional divisions granted at least one other shot at qualification.
Teams in regional groups A (northern Europe) — into which Britain falls — and B (southern Europe), will be targeting next year’s European Championships in Rotterdam, where the top three unqualified finishers earn a place. There will also be a last-ditch spot for the highest-placed unqualified team from any region at the 2019 FEI Nations Cup final.
Di said she was “looking forward” to the European Championships, which are “kinder all round” than a WEG, and that Britain would be able to select from a larger pool of riders.
“We have Tryon partnerships who will go on gaining more experience, and also our reserve Alexandra Thornton, who will be going to Barcelona [the Nations Cup final], is likely to become a big player next year,” she said.
“Scott [Brash] and Ben [Maher] should also be back in the game. Not many countries go to a championship without their top riders and finish in the position we did — which has given valuable experience to other combinations.”
Di acknowledged that the other teams Britain would be fighting for a place “were all strong” and that a lot of nations were “stepping it up” in the runup to 2020.
“There’s a lot of horsepower that has gone to the weaker nations and there can be surprises,” she said. “Australia at the Worlds were a really dark horse and it’s very difficult at the moment to single out who our rivals might be.
“Over the next 12 months riders will improve and horses will change and some nations have a lot of money to purchase new ones. Our strategy will be very much about focusing on our own performance and producing personal bests — we know we can do it, this last week in Tryon showed we were nearly there.”