Ireland’s three-day eventers moved up from tenth to eighth place after the cross country phase yesterday in Hong Kong.
They were led off by Austin O’Connor on Hobby Du Mee who went clear with 34.40 time penalties for a total of 87.20.
“The course is superb. There was a scary moment at the second water jump but we recovered fast.”
Geoff Curran aboard Kilkishen also had time penalties (30.40) as all the riders had trouble with the eight minutes allotted time to complete the course. Curran ended the day on 92.10.
Louise Lyons was the best of the Irish as she guided Watership Down to a time of 9:11 for just 28.40 penalties and a total of 85.80.
Patricia Ryan and Fernhill Clover Mist have found the competition tough although she produced a clear round but was slow with 38.40 time penalties and a total of 113.50 which was the score Ireland discarded.
Niall Griffin had a chance to secure sixth place but a refusal led to 20.00 penalty points and although he was the quickest, just one minute and six seconds over the time, the time penalties of 26.40 added up to 46.40 and a total of 97.00.
In the individual competition Lyons is in 35th place just ahead of O’Connor in 36th. Curran is 39th, Griffin 41st and Ryan 47th.
Germany lead the team event going into the show jumping today ahead of Australia and Great Britain while Hinrish Romeike leads German team mate Ingrid Klimke in the race for the individual title. Megan Jones (Australia) is in bronze medal position. Great Britain’s May King is tied for fifth but less than two fences separate the top six riders.
13:00-19:00 Sailing – Men’s Finn class races 5 and 6
Men’s 470 races 1 and 2
Ger Owens, Phil Lawton
The men’s 470 class got underway Qingdao and it was a great day for Ger Owens and Philip Lawton. They won the second race which more than made up for their 22nd place in the opener. It leaves them 9th overall but a worst score can be disguarded and if the duo can keep their finishes in the single digits then that disappointing first result will disappear.
After six races in the Finn class Tim Goodbody lies 21st overall after placing 17th and 16th in yesterday’s two races. The fleet is led by Great Britain’s Ben Ainslie who is seeking his third Olympic gold medal.
15:00-18:42 Canoe Slalom
There was drama at the Canoe Slalom where Eoin Rheinisch clinched the 15th and final place for today’s final after an appeal against a two second penalty against American Scott Parsons was turned down.
He was clear in the first run but slow in a time of 88.52 seconds leaving him 18th.
He was faster in the secind run but incurred a two second penalty ending with a combined time of 176.33 seconds.
Parsons though missed a gate and was hit with a mandatory 50 second punishment.
18:30 Swimming – Women’s 200m Freestyle
Melanie Nocher’s Olympic debut didn’t go as planned. The City of Belfast swimmer could only manage 7th place in her heat of the 200m freestyle in a time of 2:04.29.
“My goggles filled up with water as soon as I dived in, I couldn’t see anything even to spot my turns. I was going to stop and try and fix them but that would have made things worse but considering that I felt pretty good,” she said.
“I had to put my goggles on the outside rather on the inside as I normally would because it was a different hat and that’s what probably did it,” explained Nocher.
