Australia will go into the final day of equestrian eventing in the silver medal position after a near flawless performance in the cross-country at the Tokyo Olympics.
Sixth in the teams section after the dressage, Andrew Hoy, Shane Rose and Kevin McNabb catapulted the Australia into medal contention with just Monday’s jumping element remaining in the three-day event.
Great Britain world No.1 Oliver Townend took the lead in the individual competition while also keeping the Brits in pole position in the teams event courtesy of a clean sheet on the cross-country course.
Great Britain are on 78.30 points ahead of Australia on 96.20 and France on 97.10.
“It was amazing, (we) didn’t put a foot wrong,” Rose said of his ride on Virgil.
“He was amazing. It’s great to have a healthy horse at a championships.
“The round went pretty much to plan.”
Hoy is seventh in the individual event on 29.60 points, six points off the pace set by Townend, with Rose in ninth on 31.70 and McNabb 15th on 34.90 points.
Hoy and Rose both had clean sheets on the cross-country course while McNabb had 2.8 penalty points.
“As those that have seen Vassily de Lassos run before, he’s just the most phenomenal horse in cross-country,” Hoy said.
“I had a really, really nice ride, right up until the time that I was stopped. He’s just so on the ball and so focused.”
Overnight individual leader Michael Jung of Germany – who won individual gold at both the London and Rio Games – dropped back to 10th after copping an 11-point penalty on Sunday for knocking down an obstacle.
“He (his horse Chipmunk) certainly touched the corner a little bit but by no means in such a way that I would have expected it to fall,” Jung told Reuters.
“And only when I galloped on, I suddenly heard a bang and looked back and gulped a bit: ok the pole is down.”
AAP
