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 Their elimination meant Ireland could not then make the top 10 finalists so the rest of the team was withdrawn.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
In The News – May 26th
Team Ireland Round-Up | Medals, Records, and Milestones Across Europe and the U.S. ATHLETICS | Gidey’s Breakthrough, Healy Shines, English and Coscoran Impress Efrem Gidey made history on Saturday evening in Pacé, France, becoming the first Irish athlete to win individual gold at the European 10,000m Cup. The 24-year-old surged ahead with just over [...]
In The News – May 12th
Equestrian: Austin O'Connor Achieves Podium Finish at Badminton Horse Trials Four time Olympian Austin O'Connor delivered one of his finest performances to date at the prestigious 2025 Badminton Horse Trials, finishing third overall aboard his long-time partner Colorado Blue. After a modest start in the dressage phase, where he placed 20th, O'Connor surged through the [...]
Irish eventers win Boekelo Nations Cup in stunning style
Albert’s crew excel in show jumping to blow elite field away Dag Albert has hailed a fantastic team effort in testing conditions after the Agria Irish Eventing Team blitzed an elite field to win the four-star FEI Eventing Nations Cup at Boekelo today. Albert’s squad of Aoife Clark on Sportsfield Freelance, Susie Berry on the [...]
DAY 11 MORNING REPORT FROM TEAM IRELAND
Team Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam with James Kann Cruz, and Daniel Coyle with Legacy, both missed out on the medal jump-off in the show jumping final at the Palace of Versailles this morning. Running a brilliant PB Sophie O’Sullivan narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 1500m semi-finals by just one spot, finishing 7th in her heat, [...]
2024 OLYMPIC GAMES – DAY 3 AFTERNOON REPORT FROM TEAM IRELAND
In Canoe Slalom double Olympian Liam Jegou put in an incredible run in the semi-final of the Men’s C1 to reach his first Olympic final an hour later where he placed an amazing seventh overall. Defending lightweight champion Kellie Harrington impressively defeated Italian Alessia Mesiano in the last 16 to advance to the quarter-finals on Wednesday evening (31st July). Her [...]
DAY 3 MORNING REPORT FROM TEAM IRELAND | PARIS 2024
Reigning world champion Daniel Wiffen eased his way into tomorrow night’s 800m Freestyle final qualifying fastest of all eight swimmers in a time of 7:41.53. Team mate Ellen Walshe booked her spot in her first Olympic final tonight; her favoured event the women’s 400m Individual Medley by finishing fourth in her heat. Second time Olympian Danielle Hill [...]