Text © World of Showjumping

As the only country on a score of zero, Germany topped Thursday’s Olympic team qualifier in Versailles where the ten best nations secured themselves a spot in Friday’s final.

The German trio of Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 (Comme Il Faut x Come On), Philipp Weishaupt and Zineday (Zinedine x Polydor), as well as Richard Vogel and United Touch S (Untouched x Lux Z), were in a league of their own as they all posted clear rounds, finishing first ahead of the United States on six penalties, and Great Britain in third on eight faults – the same score as Belgium and the Netherlands in fourth and fifth.

On a day of mixed fortunes, Ireland, France, Sweden, Israel and Mexico were the last five countries to make it into Friday's team final, where all nations start with a clean slate. Surprisingly, Switzerland – a favourite for the medals – was one of the teams missing out after an uncharacteristic score of 24 faults collected by Steve Guerdat who had two rails down, Pius Schwizer with three and Martin Fuchs with one pole hitting the sand. 

It was also a disappointing day for Brazil, that was well on the way to qualify after a clear from Pedro Veniss and Nimrod de Muze (Nabab de Reve x Tinka's Boy), followed by a score of four for Stephan de Freitas Barcha on Primavera (Calvaro F.C. x Paroli). However, a Ground Jury-elimination of Veniss – referring to the FEI Jumping Rules art. 241.3.30 (blood on the horse’s flank) – dropped the Brazilians out of contention.

Spanish-French duo Santiago Varela and Gregory Bodo had designed a stunning but tough course full of options for the 60 horse-and-rider combinations entered, and as predicted by many it was the penultimate OOGG Paris triple combination at 13abc that caused the most trouble during today’s team qualifier. The majority of the riders opted to come in on seven strides, as the triple combination required the utmost caution – but as many horses rushed too much at this stage of the course, rails on one of the three elements fell over and over, with the light pink plank at the b-element being the real heartbreaker of the competition.

The pretty, pink Gastronomie sucreé combination at 5ab, that followed from the Champs Elysées triple bar, was also influential – and surprisingly, the wall that had seemed so innocent to begin with, caught out a few towards the end of the competition, including reigning Olympic champions Sweden that saw Peder Fredricson and Catch Me Not S (Cardento 933 x Ramiro's Son) pick up 17 faults due to this fence. 

However, all three Germans made light work of the course – delivering convincing performances ahead of tomorrow’s team final. "It is tougher than I expected, for the first day today," Christian Kukuk said after his round. "It is very technical and already big enough, I would say. There are many options in the course, you really have to be focused and concentrated. There are many questions, especially on the last line to the last oxer, then the six or seven to the liverpool oxer, the six or seven after the water is long or one extra, and many options does not make it easier, so it is a tough course. All the strides I was planning, I got there in the end, every corner went like I wanted, everything worked out," he explained.

"And Checker is just in shape, like he has been in the last twelve months. I am very happy about that; the first round is always special and this gives me and him self-confidence which is one of the most important things you have to have for such an event. I am really looking forward to the next rounds." 

"The Olympics are special enough, but surely that two riders on the German team are from Riesenbeck is really special," Kukuk said about the fact that his teammate Weishaupt is also his colleague at Ludger Beerbaum's yard in Riesenbeck, where Vogel also has worked in the past. "There are many people here supporting us. The whole thing is kind of outstanding in this sport, I think. We are very, very proud about that and motivated for this week – to hopefully bring a medal back home to Riesenbeck." 

"I already felt yesterday that he is in a very special shape, he felt super," Philipp Weishaupt said about his phenomenal 10-year-old gelding Zineday. "I really have the feeling that he feels – especially here – that this is not a normal competition, this is something special, and he gets bigger, I feel like I have got more horsepower here. He is just a joy to ride in the ring. Since I got the ride on him, the goal was always Paris. Already last year, all my decisions were based on what is best for Paris and what is best for my horse. Zineday was ridden as a four- and five-year-old by Richie and as a six- and seven-year-old by Christian, and I took over when he was seven. That is why it is good to have them and Ludger on the jump; they all know him."

"Richie’s clear round rate over 1.60m is incredible, he is a strong rider, no question about it – on probably the most powerful jumper here in Paris," Weishaupt said about his teammate. "And Christian, he won two five-star Grand Prix classes this year and I really feel like we are a strong team. However, without a drop-score anything can happen and there are eight, nine, even ten teams that could win, so it can go either way." 

"United Touch was amazing, I have to give him a huge, huge credit," Richard Vogel said. "It was a challenging, tough but fair course, so a huge compliment to the course designers, they did a very good track here today. It was a smart and delicate track in my opinion. All of this we could expect and I think tomorrow is still going to be a little bit more. United made it quite easy for me, he is in great shape – so we try to keep that up. We don’t have an order yet inside the team for tomorrow, it could also be that we change the order again but probably Christian is going to start first as he has the quickest horse and then it is either Philipp or me – that is not decided yet. Obviously, it gives us some confidence that all horses feel in good shape, all riders performed well and rode very focused. I think all German rounds were smooth, without any tough situations in the course. But tomorrow, it starts from zero and besides a good starting position, there is not so much achieved yet. We have to keep this up and perform on the same level tomorrow."

For the Americans, who placed second today, Laura Kraut gave her team the best possible start when she posted a clear round aboard Baloutinue (Balou du Rouet x Landor S), and when Karl Cook – called in earlier this morning to replace Kent Farrington – made the most out of his Olympic debut with the wonderful Caracole de La Roque  (Zandor Z x Kannan) to keep his team on a score of zero, it was looking good for Robert Ridland’s squad. But, as last to go, anchor rider McLain Ward had to see Ilex (Baltic VDL x Chin Chin) have a rail down on the vertical at no. eight – the stunning Horloge d’Orsay fence. Also adding an additional two time faults to his score, the U.S. team finished on six penalties. 

"I knew going in that we had a pretty big margin of error, so I made a plan of being a little bit conservative and make sure there wasn’t' a big blow-up,” Ward said after his round. “I mean, when I saw Peder's horse stop at the wall, and what age is he...You notice it. It was a very light rub, but not a big deal, and I think all in the team performed brilliantly and I feel very good going in tomorrow. It is a whole new competition and I purposely made sure Richie has to go in last and get all the pressure, so I think that was a plan well executed," Ward joked. "The horses feel great, we have to re-focus. It is an important job to qualify, and you never want to take that for granted." 

The Brits looked good today too, with their pathfinder Ben Maher delivering a beautiful clear round aboard Dallas Vegas Batilly (Cap Kennedy 2 x L'Arc de Triomphe), followed by four faults from both Harry Charles on Romeo 88 (Contact van de Heffinck x Orlando) and Scott Brash on Jefferson (Cooper van de Heffink x Irco Mena) – who had a fault each in the triple combination to put Britain on a total score of eight faults. 

"That was perfect," Ben Maher said after his round. "It was a great start. It is good to just get going, there is a lot of waiting around and not knowing what is coming in the first round. It is a big enough test today and Dallas Vegas was listening and really in prime today. She feels very on form, and hopefully her experience will help carry us forward this week."

Reigning Olympic team champion Sweden got off to a strong start with clear rounds from both world no. one Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward (Edward x Feo) – the first to leave all the fences intact – and team veteran Rolf-Göran Bengtsson on Zuccero HV (VDL Zirocco Blue x Caretino 2). But unexpectedly, Peder Fredricson and Catch Me Not S – anchors for the team – had a bit of a misunderstanding on the Art Urbain wall, with the grey gelding escaping out on the side – consequently adding a total of seventeen penalties to the Swedish score. 

"Maybe I turned a little bit tight to it, and he stopped," Fredricson analysed. "That really surprised me, because I had a very good feeling until then, and with this format, when every result counts, I had pressure on me to make sure that it did not happen again. We were lucky; we made it to the final and we start on zero – so for the sake of the result today, it does not really matter. However, of course I would have been happier with a clear round."

Tomorrow is a whole new day though, with all teams starting over on a score of zero as the medals will be decided.