And that is exactly what the French did when their first rider showed the crowd how it is done. A flawless ride with just 1 penalty for time by Karim Laghouag and his Entebbe gave the team confidence. Going on his team mates Thibaut Vallette and Astier Nicolas, who is now second in the individual ranking, also rode a clear round within the time.
Mathieu Lemoine and Bart I had eight penalties in the showjumping round, but it was still enough to take the team gold in front of Germany who slipped in to second place when final riders Mark Todd (Australia) and individual leader Christopher Burton (New Zealand) made mistakes on course for their nations.
Michael Jung (40.9 penalties) can be called the biggest winner in today’s first round of showjumping. Riding a smooth clear round with his La Biostique Sam, just like team mates Sandra Auffarth and Ingrid Klimke, he took over the individual lead from Christopher Burton and Germany went on the take home the silver team medal.
Burton who showed his brilliance in dressage and cross-country this weekend had two poles down in showjumping. Having him drop back to third place (45.6 penalties) behind French rider Astier Nicolas and Piaf de D'Neville (42 penalties) for the final round of showjumping.
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