Tokyo Olympic Eventing Preview

Tokyo Olympic Eventing is ready to take place between the 30 July and 2 August 2021. Here’s what to expect from the equestrian eventing competition in Tokyo.

Tokyo Olympic Eventing Teams

There are 63 eventing combinations taking part in their year’s Olympic Eventing competition.

There will be 29 countries represented on the Olympic stage. 15 teams will take part in the team competition and 14 countries will be represented by individual athletes.

Ones to watch include Team Germany, who take the formidable, Micheal Jung, into the Games. The 38-year-old made Eventing history by becoming the first to hold the European, Olympic, and World Championship titles at the same time.A double Olympic champion too, Micheal was riding the same infamous horse, Sam, when coming out on top at London 2012 and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. However, this year he is partnered with his 2019 European Championship horse, Chipmunk.

Micheal will be joined by the rest of the German Team who clinched silver in Rio; Sandra Auffarth with Viamant du Matz, and Julia Krajewski riding Armande de B’Neville.

Defending team champions, France will also be back to defend their title. Thomas Carlile riding Birmane and Christopher Six riding Totem de Brecey make their debut appearance at the Olympics, after achieving multiple international placings. Meanwhile, Nicolas Touzaint returns to the team after missing the Rio Olympics, and riding Absolut Gold HDC.

However, Team GB arrive in Tokyo as reigning world champions. World number one, Oliver Townend riding Ballaghmor Class, world number five, Tom McEwen and Toledo de Kerser, and number 22, Laura Collet and London 52, make up the team. The FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2018 champion, Ros Canter and Allstar B make up the team as reserves.

The Tokyo 2020 Games is also a history making moment for both Thailand and China. They are entering an Olympic Eventing team for the first time in history.

Also making his mark is the first-ever Eventing athlete to represent Hong Kong, Thomas Heffernan Ho who will partner the stallion, Tayberry.

The oldest athlete on the field will be New Zealand’s Andrew Hoy, at  62-year-old. The youngest athlete is 22-year-old Lea Siegl from Austria.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Eventing Competition

Competition kicks off with dressage, taking place over two days. There will be two session of dressage on Friday 30 July and one session of dressage on Saturday 31 July.

A brand new Olympic Dressage test with be debuted the year, taking just under four minutes to complete.

On Saturday afternoon, once competition the dressage phase is complete, the horses will be transported for a sleepover at Sea Forest in Tokyo Bay. This is where the cross-country phase will commence on Sunday morning.

Consisting of 23 elements, the rustic style, olympic cross country fences are all themed around Japanese heritage in the Sea Forest Park. Based in an area of reclaimed land, the venue offers superb views of Tokyo Bay and Tokyo’s dramatic cityscape. Expect lots of twists, turns, and water from the Derek di Grazia-designed cross country course.

The course is set at roughly 4420m and will take roughly 7 minutes and 45 seconds to complete. Shorter than previous Olympic cross country courses, it has been adapted for according to the FEI Climate Impact study looking at horse and rider welfare and weather conditions.

The combinations will then return to the Baji Koen Equestrian Park the same afternoon. On Monday, the top 25 rider’s complete their final Jumping phase, battling it out to decide the team and individual medals.

How to Watch The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Eventing

Watch the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Eventing at Eurosport.co.uk.

Only the showjumping phase is expected to be shown on BBC2 and iPlayer from 09:00am

For the full viewing schedule, click here.

Header Image: Toshiyuki Tanaka with ride, Talma d’Allou (JPN) (FEI/Christophe Taniére)

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British Olympic Eventing Team For Tokyo 2020