Riders gear up to qualify for Tokyo Olympics

Athletes with dreams of riding in the Olympics are feeling the heat to qualify for the event with just 12 months to go.

TWELVE months out from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the pressure is on riders to qualify for team selection eligibility.

Achieving a Minimum Eligibility Requirement is the first step towards team selection as, despite the horses performances if they don’t achieve an MER, they cannot be selected in an Australian team.

There are several ways of achieving an MER, which revolve around scoring less than a certain number of penalties in the Grand Prix at selected shows.

Some events will provide a full MER while others offer a half MER, depending on the star rating of the show.

For riders based in Australia and wishing to qualify it will be our outdoor World Cup events that will give them this opportunity.

Horse and rider combinations need to complete two such CSI-W events with zero penalties to achieve the MER.

However the Grand Prix at this year’s Pryde’s Easifeed Australian Show Jumping Championships has been granted a “Special Qualifier” status by the FEI. This means that combinations who complete the first round of the Grand Prix with eight faults or less will achieve a full MER.

Riders that have already gained a full MER include Rowan Willis and Blue Movie, Edwina Tops-Alexander and California, Scott Keach and Fedor, Falcon, De Has Z and Picobello Z, Amy Graham and Colergine Des Bergeries and Ruslan Petkov and Yirkala En Vogue and Chaccolino while Thaisa Erwin and Evita, Billy Raymont and Anton, Aaron F Hadlow and Vahlinvader and James Harvey and Tyrone VDL have all gained a half MER.

Major changes have also been made to the competition format for showjumping at Tokyo 2020.

The new format includes teams of three horse and rider combinations instead of four, with all scores to count. There will be no drop scores.

Teams may also take a reserve combination, which can be substituted prior to the start of the individual and team qualification rounds.

The other big change is that individual medals will be decided before the team medals.

All combinations will jump in the first individual competition with the top 30 going through to the individual final. In the team qualifier 20 teams will compete with the top 10 going through to the final.