‘I don’t think I breathed the whole way around’: Ros Canter on her team leg of Paris Olympics eventing showjumping

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo have completed their Paris Olympics eventing showjumping round for the British team. They picked up four penalties when the 2023 European individual champion and Badminton winner got a little close to the front rail of an oxer.

“Team orders are always to be fast and clear, so that’s what I tried to do today but I didn’t quite pull it off,” explained Ros. “I think in trying to be quick, I just cut a corner. I know ‘Walter’ has a bit of a right drift, and I just didn’t manage it around that one corner, but the rest of it, I’m absolutely delighted with.

“It’s hard work and nerve wracking and I don’t think I breathed the whole way around – I was mightily relieved to jump that last fence and become an Olympian.”

Ros stated that the Olympic eventing showjumping course is “difficult” and the atmosphere is intense.

“It is like nothing I’ve ever ridden in and the French crowd are obviously extremely noisy – it’s like a pressure pit in there, to be quite honest.”

Ros also said that although the poles are “beautiful to look at”, they’re “really hard to see”.

“I think they all blend into the background quite a lot, and it plays with your eyesight a little bit. I found it hard to ride very well.

“I had a very clear plan of how I wanted to be mentally coming into this showjumping course and I think I achieved that.”

Ros was awarded 15 penalties for a missed flag during her cross-country round yesterday; a decision that was upheld by officials.

“[The appeal process] yesterday carried on for a lot longer than it should,” stated Ros. “It would have been lovely to have had a bit of time to celebrate and enjoy what happened yesterday, and so far I haven’t been able to do that. It’s left a little bit of a bitter taste.

“I feel unbelievably sorry for Lordships Graffalo’s owners [Archie and Michele Saul], who have been such phenomenal supporters of mine, and they deserve this more than I do. They found the whole thing quite a hard pill to swallow, but we know we’ve got the best cross-country horse in the world and we think he gave everybody an absolutely stellar performance yesterday. I hope everyone enjoyed watching him as much as I had the pleasure of riding him.”

Ros’ round means that Britain retain their team gold medal position after the first rotation of team riders. The team sits on 86.5, while France is on 95.2, which gives Britain a two-fence buffer at this stage after Nicolas Touzaint and Diabolo Menthe picking up eight jumping faults. The Swiss team are in bronze at this stage of in Olympics eventing showjumping on 111.2.

“The support I had yesterday evening – everybody’s been so kind,” said Ros, referring to her teammates. “We’re competitive, but we’re also great friends and whatever happens today, I know we’ll hold our heads high and be very proud of each other.”

Individually Ros and Lordships Graffalo are on 42.4 and they have qualified to jump in the individual final this afternoon where the top 25 are permitted to take part.

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