Laura Kraut: "It wasn't exactly a walk-in-the-park along the way..."

The Americans were delighted to have clinched their country’s eighth Pan American Jumping team title. As Kraut said however, it wasn’t exactly a walk-in-the-park along the way.

“It’s been extremely nerve-wracking this whole day. We had a very good first-round performance but still you know that it could all go away. Two mediocre rounds would have lost it for us. For me I was so relieved when the three before me went clear. I almost enjoyed the last round - unlike yesterday!”, said the rider whose team-mates ensured that gold was already in the bag before she set off on her final run, and who now lies second behind Ward who holds the lead going into Friday’s individual medal-decider. With less than a fence separating the top ten that is going to be another mighty battle.

“We’ll focus on that tomorrow”, Ward said. “As everybody knows our main goal was to qualify for the Games and to win a medal here as a team, to represent our country well. I thought the team rallied well and pulled it off with pretty good style today. But the fact that it took us so long to qualify needs to bring it to our attention that we can’t rest on a good week here. There’s some work to be done to be prepared for Paris where we go against the world’s best”, he pointed out with some conviction.

Meanwhile his team manager, Robert Ridland, reflected on the ever-improving level of competition at the Pan American Games. “The last two or three (editions) we keep seeing a higher and higher level competition, and I think everyone saw that again today. These are really strong teams out there fighting to the end, and it’s a big tribute to what the Pan American Games have become!”, he said.

source: FEI