Eventing Silver Medal for Chris Burton in Paris

UK based Christopher Burton has just won a Silver medal in the Individual Eventing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games!

Burton, along with his Belgian Warmblood gelding Shadow Man, came into today’s Jumping phase in third place, out of a large field of 64 starters and held his nerve to ride almost perfectly over the two rounds this afternoon. Despite a rail down earlier in the day, the German pair of Michael Jung and Chipmunk FRH came into the jumping phase with a big enough lead that saw him manage to hang on to take the gold by just 0.60 penalties.

Burton and Shadow Man, who he has only paired with since March, were magnificent across the three days of competition. In the Dressage on Saturday, they were the equal third best combination on show, collecting just 22.00 penalties and in yesterday’s Cross-Country they went even better, putting in a perfect performance to remain on 22.00 penalties, coming into day three, just 4.20 penalties behind the leader. Burton, who is competing at his third Olympics and finished fifth in Rio in the Individual event, which contributed to Australia’s bronze medal winning team effort, put in one of the strongest performances on the day. In his first Jumping round this morning, they left all the rails in place but were ever so slightly outside the allowed time, adding just 0.40 penalties to finish on 22.40. His position was strengthened by the two riders ahead of him taking a rail, which saw him advance to second place, just 0.60 penalties from the lead.

The top 25 individual riders from the teams competition were then invited back to battle it out for individual gold. As each of the top four came out at the end of the round, they each produced clears that didn’t allow any of them to make ground on any of the others and Burton stayed in the silver medal position. The crowd of 20,000 spectators surrounding the arena watched on in total silence as Jung, the last competitor on course, held his nerve to complete a perfect round and take the gold for Germany.

At the press conference, Burton highlighted what a wonderful show it had been. He described the unique relationship that he and Shadow Man have, having only been together a few months. He described how the selectors told him that they wanted to see more out of the combination, as they had only competed a few times together, so they went to Mill St and won a CCIO4* competition and he was now disappointed that the 6-month lease he had on Shadow Man was coming to an end. As for the future, Burton said that he had a few plans. Firstly, he told the press conference that he has actually been named as a shadow reserve, along with mare Chedington Hazy Toulana to step in to represent Australia in the Jumping discipline at these games should more than one combination put out for any reason in the next couple of days. However, longer term, Burton said that he, his wife and family would soon be returing to Australia to live, having left our shores in 2011, to further his career. 

Burton, however, was not the only Australian to perform on the day. Shane Rose was part of the team that secured a bronze medal in Rio 2016, along with Christopher Burton and they were back together in the same team in Paris 2024. The issues that Shane has had to deal with this year just to make the team have been well documented and it has been a super effort to overcome them. Shane, at his fourth Olympics and his trusty steed Virgil, at just his second Olympics, came into today’s Jumping phase in 23rd place having picked up 34.60 penalties in the Dressage, followed by a mere 2.80 in yesterday’s Cross-Country to see them carrying 37.40 points into the Jumping phase. In the Jumping today, they had a great round. Just a single rail down and 0.40 time penalties added 4.40 to their score, which advanced their total score to 41.80 jumping them up one position to 22nd securing a place in the top 25 final. In the final, Rose showed his class, piloting Virgil around the course clear to finish on 41.80 penalties promoting them to 20th place in the final individual standings. We suspect that Shane might be a little disappointed with this result, however, Australia should be infinitely proud of his efforts both over the last three days and in fact the whole of 2024.

An injury to Gelding Don Quidam saw the third member of our team, Kevin McNab retire half-way through the Cross-Country Phase. This combination, which were part of the Silver Medal winning team from Tokyo 2020, according to reports, seemed to be going well but McNab took no chances when he sensed that something was wrong with Don Quidam and pulled up between fences. Unfortunately, such a withdrawal incurred 200 penalties which effectively put Australia out of the team competition. We should feel satisfied that one of our competitors, when the stakes could not have been higher, elevated his concerns for the welfare of his horse above both his and the team’s ambitions. 

With Don Quidam incurring a soft tissue injury (from which we understand he will fully recover), the team reserve combination of Shenae Lowings and her OTT Thoroughbred gelding Bold Venture were invited to make their Olympic debut. They had a very solid round in the jumping today. Just two rails down and a further 1.20 time penalties gave them a score of 9.20, adding just a little to the team score.