Buzzing to the podium

Ros Canter and Kitty King fight off the pressure to secure medals as Germany squeak to silver by a narrow margin

QUENTIN PERNEY and Jean-Pierre Meneau’s 12-fence track was in an all-weather arena in front of the beautiful national stud. The buoyant French crowds added to the atmosphere and with part of the arena roped off for the warm-up, horses and riders couldn’t avoid their cheers, which was detrimental to some.

British individual Tom Jackson produced a beautiful clear round inside the 75-second time allowed with Capels Hollow Drift.

“I’m still a little bit disappointed with the result yesterday,” said Tom, who finished 29th. “But every time you come and do something like this, you learn something.”

Team GB’s discard scorers Yasmin Ingham and Banzai Du Loir (25th), had an uncharacteristic four faults.

“The course felt tight and everything was related, with tight turns,” said Yasmin.

“You had to make sure that you weren’t wasting a second by going too wide on the corners.”

Meanwhile, Laura Collett’s pristine clear on London 52 – which elevated her to ninth – maintained the British team’s wide margin, so the pressure on Kitty and Ros was chiefly about individual medals.

Inside the top 10, Germany’s individual Jérôme Robiné jumped an accomplished round with Black Ice for 1.6 time-faults and seventh, while Swiss team rider Felix Vogg dropped from seventh to 11th after knocking the wall at fence seven, plus incurring 1.2 time-penalties.

Ireland’s Sarah Ennis and Grantstown Jackson’s expensive eight-fault round dropped them from fifth to 14th place.