GB’s equestrian team gets gold rush under way
Laura Collett and London 52 sealed a first British gold medal at the Paris Olympics as the eventing squad won the team competition at the Chateau de Versailles.
Collett and teammate Tom McEwen were both winning the title for a second time having triumphed in Tokyo alongside Shropshire’s Oliver Townend three years ago, but it was a debut Olympic gold for Ros Canter, who was travelling reserve last time around.
With France starting the day in second, home fans were out in force hoping for a winning performance, resulting in an atmosphere to remember for Collett.
She said: “I’m on top of the world – riding into that stadium is an experience I don’t think I will ever have again, it was spine-tingling and then we just had to focus on trying to get the job done.
“I’ve said it a million times, but I owe everything to him, he’s the horse of a lifetime and I’m so, so proud of him.
“It’s very cool to win the first gold of the Games and long may it continue, it’s pretty special to be the first.”
Collet would go on to win bronze on London 52 in the individual eventing competition later in the day.
Matt Richards defied being in the number one lane to claim Olympic silver in the men’s 200 metres freestyle – but he missed out on gold by an agonising two-hundredths of a second.
Richards claimed Team GB’s second runner-up spot of these Paris Games in the pool but like Adam Peaty 24 hours earlier, he was 0.02 seconds adrift of the winner – Romanian sensation David Popovici.
Duncan Scott, who won silver in the event at Tokyo 2020, finished fourth in a frenetic finish at La Defense Arena, just 0.08 secs adrift of bronze medallist Luke Hobson.
