Jessica Springsteen, Bruce’s daughter, earned an Olympic silver medal for the US but they lost in a thrilling jump-off with Sweden in the team showjumping. She rode alongside Laura Kraut and McLain Ward in the final equestrian event of the Tokyo Games.
The medal went some way to wiping away the disappointment of not qualifying for the individual jumping final but the US came agonisingly close to gold.
Springsteen, who rode Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, a 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion, is the second child of the Boss and his fellow musician Patti Scialfa, and began riding aged four – prompting “born to ride” headlines aplenty.
The 29-year-old grew up on the family’s horse farm in Colts Neck Township in New Jersey and she is the highest placed woman in the world rankings in 14th. She was an alternate for 2012 but failed to make the cut for Rio in 2016.
The US made a blistering start to the team event with the 55-year-old Kraut, who won gold in the team event at Beijing in 2008, producing the first of only two clear rounds in the opening 10 rides. Springsteen came next, incurring four jump penalties, a tally matched by Ward on Contagious.
“I was disappointed to have the four faults,” said Springsteen. “I kind of took for granted a little bit, I wasn’t really expecting that to be one of my challenges so I’m disappointed in that regard. But I thought my horse jumped the rest of the course absolutely beautifully and I was just thinking of that left-hand turn there, I want it to be neat on my time, so I think that’s why I had it down. But all in all he was amazing this entire week, so I’m so happy for him.”
The US and Sweden finished level on eight penalties apiece with the Americans marginally slower, forcing a jump-off for the gold medal. Belgium earned bronze after finishing with 12 penalties.
Kraut went first in the jump-off and replicated her clean round on Baloutinue, a horse she has had for only a few months. Her efforts were matched by the Swedish pair Henrik von Eckermann and Malin Baryard-Johnsson, as well as Kraut’s teammate Springsteen. In the final round Ward pulled off a fast and clean run to put the pressure on the three-times individual silver medallist Peder Fredricson, who needed to get round cleanly in under 40.31. He flew round on All In to give his team a 1.3sec lead over the USA and finally get his hands on an Olympic gold.
In previous Olympics, four riders competed with the lowest score discounted; however, in Tokyo just three participated and each score was added to the total. After the event the new format was criticised by both gold and silver medallists.
Ward said the change puts stress on the horses. “Today was great sport but not because of the format but because of the horses and the riders and the competition. I’m not a fan,” he said. “Not having a drop score when you have the variables of another living animal puts too much pressure on the situation.”
Von Eckermann added: “We won it today so we say great but … I think it was better before with four, to be able to have a scratch, that’s my feeling.”
Great Britain limped through in last place after Ben Maher withdrew, with the medals already lost in the first two rounds. Maher had won gold in the individual event with a speedy round of 37.85 on Wednesday to take him ahead of Sweden’s Fredricson by 17 hundredths of a second. His hope of securing double gold, though, was quashed as Holly Smith and the replacement rider Harry Charles raked up big penalties at the Equestrian Park on Sunday.
The British team’s preparations for the showjumping team final had already taken a knock when Scott Brash was forced to withdraw because of a strain picked up by his horse, Jefferson. Charles, riding Romeo 88, came into the fold to compete in Brash’s place.
Charles took eight penalties to lift the team into ninth after the second run at the fences but the damage had already been done, with Smith incurring 16 penalties to place them bottom after the first round of riders.
A statement from Team GB praised the efforts of Smith and Charles but said: “Ben and Explosion have shown their world-class calibre in winning individual gold and we have collectively decided it’s in the best interests to save Explosion for another day.”
The 38-year-old Maher won the team gold at London 2012 on Triple X III alongside Charles’s father, Peter (who sold his medal-winning horse Vindicat W to Springsteen), Brash and Nick Skelton, but the team failed to defend their title in Rio with a disappointing 12th-place finish.