NZ secure eventing spot in 2028 LA Olympics
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
New Zealand has qualified a team spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games after placing sixth at the 2026 FEI World Eventing Championships in Aachen, Germany.
Tim Price on Falco and Jonelle Price with Senor Crocodillo were both clear and inside time in the jumping today, shooting them up both up the leaderboard and setting the stage for Monica Spencer and Artist.
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The Frank Rothenberger designed course certainly proved a challenge for many and it wasn’t until Jonelle went at 16 that the crowd were treated to the first clear round, inside time.
ESNZ high performance general manager Jock Paget said the team had come to the championships chasing medals, and while all were disappointed not to achieve that, to have the Olympic qualification in the bag was an important box to tick.
“We had a nightmare start to cross country day when we lost our first horse so were on the back foot after that and we just had to adjust,” said Jock. “It was clear medals were off the table and we had to shift to prioritise the Olympic qualification.”
Tim Price and Falco were the best of the Kiwis in 21st place on 42.1 penalty points. They had a less than ideal dressage result but followed that with stella cross country and showjumping rounds to finish strongly.
Jonelle Price and Senor Crocodillo posted a personal best dressage score but faced a climb after being held on the cross country course for nearly eight minutes while a fence was rebuilt. Her horse struggled to get back into his swing and they had a late runout.
Spencer and her off-the-track New Zealand bred thoroughbred had a cracking cross country round yesterday, adding just 4.8 time to sit inside the top 20 and while they had rails in the showjumping today, they did enough to secure the Olympic berth for the Kiwis.
Debutants Samantha Lissington and Lucas Stone, competing as individuals, showed their mettle and signalled themselves as a combo to watch for the future.
Germany's Michael Jung won the individual title followed by Brits Ros Canter and Laura Collet. The team gold went Great Britain ahead of Germany and the United States.
