Friday’s individual show jumping competition concludes the Rio 2016 equestrian Games. The top 35 individual show jumpers will compete in Round A for a chance to advance to Round B and gain individual Olympic glory.
Riders will begin Friday’s rounds with a clear score, making the gold title game for anyone regardless of their past three rides.
Round A serves as a qualifying round for the finals, Round B. The top 20 riders from Round A will advance to Round B in hopes of bringing home an individual title. The riders final score will consist of a combination of the penalties incurred in each of Friday’s rounds. If for some chance there is a tie between riders for a spot on the podium, the winner will be determined in a jump-off.
The individual competition thus far has been nothing short of a fierce fight and it will only get tougher in Friday’s events as the riders battle it out for a spot on the podium.
Eric Lamaze of Canada is the top individual to beat at this point in the competition. The Olympic veteran is looking to match his individual jumping gold medal from Beijing. Lamaze has been the only rider to jump triple clear rounds in Rio. Lamaze is hungry for another title and will be a top competitor to beat in Friday’s finals.
Team USA’s Kent Farrington falls short behind Lamaze. The No.4 world ranked show jumper is on a dominant run that could earn him a title in his Olympic debut. Farrington advances to the individual jumping finals with a team silver medal and in a three-way tie for second place on the individual leaderboard. The Olympic rookie performed double clear rounds and accumulated one time penalty point in Friday’s team finals to land the No. 2 spot with Sweeden’s Peder Fredricson and the Dutch’s Maikel Van Der Vleuten. Although all members will start Friday’s competition with clear scores, Lamaze, Farrington, Van Der Vleuten, and Fredricson will be tough contenders to beat.
Round A will begin on Friday at 9:00 am EST.