Great Britain’s Olympic short-listed rider William Funnell has been ruled out of the showjumping at the Tokyo Olympics after breaking his ankle in a fall during the Nations Cup of Sopot, Poland, yesterday (20 June).
During the second round of the team competition, the Surrey rider and his home-bred Equine America Billy Diamo uncharacteristically crashed through the oxer at fence five. William was unseated and stretchered out of the arena with what turned out to be a broken ankle.
This ends all hopes William had of being picked to ride for Great Britain at his first ever Olympic Games.
“I’m 100% out — I reckon I’ll be out for about three months as I’ve been told they have to operate on it,” William told H&H.
“I went to a Polish hospital after the fall and was told that they’d have to operate and I’d have to have it plastered right up to my thigh. I wasn’t too keen on that idea, so I got them to plaster it up temporarily and got on a plane back to England.
source: Horse & Hound