Versailles, France - The U.S. Olympic Eventing Team finished seventh overall of 16 competing teams in the eventing portion of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The team completed on a final total score of 133.70 after all three phases. Boyd Martin and Fedarman B finished as the highest placed U.S. combination, nearly finishing on their original dressage score of 30.5, only adding 1.6-time penalties on cross country and jumping two clear rounds on the final day of competition in the main stadium.
“I really truly believe there were more positives than negatives this weekend and still signs we are here competing with the rest of the world. We didn’t compete in this format to a level that was going to get us a medal this weekend and that is really disappointing for everyone,” said Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello.
“We need get better at this Olympic format because it is unique. We have to think about the things we can concentrate on and improve upon that are going to make us more competitive against the world's best. I’m heartened when I look at the quality of the riders, we have here and the quality of horses. Each of these riders has a deep bench of horses coming along, but we still have much work to do if we have the expectation of ourselves to be on the podium in Los Angeles in four years.”
With some changes in standing after the second horse inspection, the team went into the first round of jumping in eighth place, ultimately moving up to seventh after Halliday and Martin delivered two clear rounds. Caroline Pamukcu (Springtown, Pa.) and HSH Blake, a 2015 Irish Sport Horse gelding (Tolan R. x Kannan) owned by Mollie Hoff, Sherrie Martin, Caroline Pamukcu, and Deniz Pamukcu and cared for by Chloe Teahan, once again led the team off as the first combination on course, which was beautifully designed by Santiago Varela (ESP) and Gregory Bodo (FRA). The pair delivered an excellent round, just nudging out the front rail of the oxer at fence nine late in the course to add four faults and .4 in time to the team’s total.
Halliday (Lexington, Ky.) and Nutcracker, who impressed all week after being called in late to the team as traveling reserves produced executed a beautifully ridden and fluid round for the team, helping to keep their positioning in the standings. The pair added just .8 in time after their first round, leaving all the rails in the cups as the second rotation of team riders completed.
On one of the best jumpers in the field, Martin (Cochranville, Pa.) and Fedarman B took to the course with confidence in gelding’s skill and scope in the final phase of competition. The pair made the track look easy, putting in a tremendous effort and finishing within the time to secure a double-clear effort, one of only seven other combinations all day to do so, and finalizing the team’s total score of 133.70.
“Bruno bounced back from cross-country really well. We really didn’t do too any warm-up jumps to save a little bit of juice for hopefully the second round. I’m just really blessed to have such a jumper. He didn’t touch anything in warm-up and didn’t even come close to touching a rail in the ring,” said Martin. “He went in there and it was really an amazing atmosphere when you walked down the tunnel and Bruno really didn’t disappoint. I have supreme confidence in his jumping ability.”
Both Martin and Halliday qualified for the second round to determine individual medals and the pair were tasked with jumping a different track set by Varela and Bodo. Halliday returned first out of the two U.S. combinations, with Nutcracker, a 2014 Irish Sport Horse gelding (Tolan R. x Cobra) owned by Chris Desino, Rob Desino, Deborah Halliday, Liz Halliday, and Renee Lane and cared for by Abby Steger, just having down the first vertical on course, but jumping an excellent round through the remainder of the track to complete their first Olympic Games on a final individual score of 40 penalties for 19th individually.
Showcasing once again the talent in their strongest phase together, Martin and Fedarman B, a 2010 KWPN gelding (Eurocommerce Washington x Fedor) owned by the Annie Goodwin Syndicate and cared for by Stephanie Simpson rode a perfect second-round in the individual competition, nudging reigning Olympic individual gold medalist Julia Krajewski (GER) to eleventh and securing a top ten finish. This is Martin’s first career top-ten finish at an Olympic Games, completing on his best finishing score of 32.
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