Britain’s eventing team is in bronze medal position in the Olympic eventing competition heading into the cross-country.
William Fox-Pitt‘s score of 44.1pen on Lionheart (pictured) was good enough to leave the team — with William’s, Mary King‘s and Tina Cook‘s counting scores — third behind Germany and Australia.
Britain sit on a combined score of 127pen. Australia have 122.1, and Germany have 119.1.
The Swedish team is fourth, just 1.2pen behind Britain. New Zealand are fifth, Japan sixth, USA seventh and Belgium eighth. France and Ireland complete the top 10.
“It’s very exciting that the marks are close enough to produce an exciting competition. We’re certainly hoping it’s not a dressage competition — if it is, we’ll be very disappointed,” said William. “Given the company, and that this is his first championship, I’m thrilled with Lionheart.”
Mary King and Imperial Cavalier are Britain’s highest placing pairing in 12th with 40.9, followed by Tina Cook and Miners Frolic in 14th with 42 — an impressive performance given that it took place in a thunderstorm and heavy rain.
William Fox-Pitt and Lionheart are equal 17th; Zara Phillips and High Kingdom are equal 24th on 46.1, and Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz are equal 39th on 51.7.
The cross-country starts at 12.30pm tomorrow (Monday 30 July). Nicola Wilson is first to go for Britain at 1.02pm, Mary King is at 2.02pm, Zara Phillips is at 3.06pm, Tina Cook is at 4.10pm and William Fox-Pitt is the final British rider at 5.14pm.
Join H&H eventing editor Pippa Roome and H&H website editor Carol Phillips for the latest cross-country news and plenty of interactive fun and entertainment tomorrow via the H&H Live service. Register now for a reminder at www.horseandhound.co.uk/olympicxclive NB: this is an interactive written commentary service, NOT a live video stream
Don’t miss H&H’s full report of the Olympic eventing, in the issue on sale FRIDAY 3 August – 23-page special report, with comments from Ruth Edge, Pippa Funnell and Mark Phillips, pictures of every cross-country fence, stunning photos and full analysis.
