RIO DE JANEIRO – Canada just missed the podium in Olympic show jumping Wednesday, losing to Germany in a jump-off for bronze.
Germany and Canada finished tied for third with eight faults each.
German Daniel Deusser cemented the bronze, riding First Class to a clear third round.
Yann Candele of Caledon, Ont., was Canada’s leadoff rider aboard First Choice 15 and posted four faults but German Christian Ahlmann, the world No. 1, was clean aboard Taloubet Z.
Tiffany Foster of North Vancouver and Tripple X III rode a clear second round but so did Germany’s Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Fibonacci.
“He was unbelievable today, he was on another level,” said Foster of her mount.
Amy Miller of Perth, Ont., and Heros had a fault in the third round, setting the stage for Deusser to end the competition with a clear round. As a result, former Olympic champion Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., didn’t have to ride Fine Lady 5 in the fourth and final round.
“We were in a great position, and we were unlucky not to be in the medals,” said Lamaze, who was part of Canada’s silver medal team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “Tiffany had the wall down yesterday and Yann had the last fence today. If you eliminated just one of those scores, we would have been silver. Could have, would have.
“Yesterday’s course was a bit friendlier but today was the real deal with an Olympic-calibre course and every rider at their best,” he added.
“To go clear today was a bigger task than it was yesterday. It’s hard to win a medal, but I also think we were very unlucky to be fourth. If you look at the teams we beat to be fourth, we really did our best. I’m incredibly proud of everyone’s performance.”
As the team competition concludes, the top 35 riders in the individual standings, limited to three per country, will move forward to Friday’s individual show jumping final.
Following the first three individual qualifiers, Lamaze is alone at the top of the leaderboard, having been the only rider to produce three clear efforts.
Candele and Foster tied for 18th position with eight faults, and will both advance to the individual final.
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