On the course of every four years we attend to witness the Olympic Games, and this year's late Edition was such a thrill!
Seventy three riders representing 19 countries were on the start list of the individual qualifier on Monday. The course was designed by Spain's Santiago Varella with 1.65m obstacles.
At the beginning, no rider was able to make a clear round, but then Egypt's youngest rider Mouda Zeyada made it to the finish line with no fences down and one time fault. That was the start of a series of amazing performances by the rest of the riders who were making their way up to the top 30 qualifiers to the final round.
That night, 30 riders came out with clear a round which is quiet a big number; that made some believe that the course designer could’ve done a better job. And indeed he did the next day.
Out of the 30 riders on the start list of the final round, only six made it to the jump-off. Three of which are the Swedish team of Peder Fredricson, Henrik Von Eckermann & Malin Baryard Johnsson, in addition to Netherland’s Maikel Venn Der Vleuten,Japan's Daisuke Fukushima who was competing on homeland and Great Britain’s shining star, Ben Maher.
Riding against the clock is always a thrill to watch and all six riders made such a tremendous performance. They were all competing on the lifetime opportunity of being Olympic champions.
But Ben Maher and Explosion W earned the Gold when they made it to the final fence in 37.85 seconds and no fences down. Peder Fredricson came in Second place with 38.02 seconds followed by Maikel Van der Vlueten in Third.