Shane Sweetnam
Equestrian
BIOGRAPHY
Shane began his Grand Prix career aged 16. After qualifying in IT from the University of Limerick in 2004 he headed to USA to work with US Olympic veteran Margie Engle, and has been based in Florida since. He was eighth individually to help Ireland to team gold at the 2017 Europeans. In 2021 he won the first five-star Grand Prix of the year at America’s prestigious Wellington Equestrian Festival. He was part of Ireland’s silver medal team at the 2023 European Championships (13th individual), and the teams that won the Aga Khan in Dublin in 2022, and were runners-up in 2023.
He and James Kann Cruz won the four-star Grand Prix in Lexington last Winter and provided two clear rounds when Ireland had a faultless victory at the last pre-Olympic five-star Nations Cup in Aachen on July 4. Shane was reserve for both London 2012, and Tokyo. He made his Olympic debut in the latter, but his horse Alejandro had a bad fall in qualifying. Their elimination meant Ireland could not then make the top 10 finalists so the rest of the team was withdrawn.
OTHER EQUESTRIAN ATHLETES
EQUESTRIAN NEWS
Seven Riders named across Eventing, Showjumping and Dressage for Paris 2024
The Olympic Federation of Ireland has officially selected the equestrian team who are set to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. Team Ireland will be represented by a showjumping team, an eventing team, and individual dressage at the Games, with competition taking place on the grounds of the Versailles Palace. The eventing [...]
Performance Round Up – March
Catch up on the latest results of Team Ireland athletes throughout the month of March. Jack Woolley Qualifies in Taekwondo For Paris 2024 Three years on from the delayed Tokyo Games, where he became Ireland’s first participant in any Olympic taekwondo event, Woolley has again sealed his place in the 58kg division. Jude Gallagher adds [...]
Weekend Recap | Rugby, Athletics, Show Jumping
Ireland dominate to win fifth Wellington CSIO4* Nations Cup The Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping team won a fifth CSIO4* Wellington International Nations Cup after an utterly dominant performance at the Florida venue overnight. Michael Blake’s team of Darragh Kenny on Eddy Blue, David O’Brien on El Balou Old, Shane Sweetnam on RR Combella and [...]
Bernard Jackman Appointed Acting Head of Sport at HSI
JACKMAN APPOINTED ACTING HEAD OF SPORT AT HSI Former Ireland rugby international to oversee high performance programme in run-up to Paris Olympics Bernard Jackman has been appointed Acting Head of High Performance Sport at Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) in the lead-up to the Olympic Games in Paris. The former Ireland rugby union international, who won a […]
Ireland win team silver at FEI European Championship
The Irish Senior Show Jumping team moved up the leader board in Milano to finish second The Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping team delivered an excellent performance to claim the silver medal in the team final of the FEI Jumping European Championship in Milano, Italy, this afternoon, Friday 1st of September. Michael Blake’s quartet of Michael [...]
Irish Eventing team secure Olympic qualification with superb performance at World Championships
A fantastic performance from the Irish Eventing team of Sam Watson, Padraig McCarthy, Susie Berry and Austin O’Connor, managed by Dag Albert at the FEI Eventing World Championships in Pratoni, Italy, has secured Olympic qualification for the Irish team for Paris 2024. A fifth place finish following today’s final Show Jumping phase saw Ireland take one of the seven coveted Olympic […]