Offaly man on Irish team that secures Olympic qualification

Ireland booked the second team ticket on the plane to the LA28 Olympic Games on Friday after finishing seventh in the final of the FEI World Championships team final.

Jessica Kuerten's team of Darragh Kenny from Belmont in Offaly with Eddy Blue, Bertram Allen with Qonquest De Rigo, Cian O'Connor with Chatolinue PS and Shane Sweetnam with the Irish Sport Horse James Kann Cruz climbed from 10th overnight to seventh and secured the all-important place at the 2028 Summer Games.

On what proved a difficult and dramatic night for many of the world's best in Aachen, all three of Ireland’s combinations came home with just one pole down for four faults to finish on a final team tally of 23.69.

That was enough to ensure the Irish, who had lost Kenny's Eddy Blue after his withdrawal during the day, claimed the all-important qualification spot, joining the Eventing team on the plane after they secured their slot last Sunday with a fourth-placed finish in Aachen.

Host nation Germany took gold after a hugely impressive display of jumping, with Belgium runners up and Great Britain landing bronze.

The result secures one of seven available Olympic team quota places from the World Championships, alongside Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland and France. The United States had already qualified as host nation.

Speaking on the withdrawal of Eddy Blue ahead of the final. Kenny said: “After careful assessment this afternoon, we made the difficult decision to withdraw Eddy Blue from this evening’s team final at the World Championships. He is a special horse, and his wellbeing has always been, and will always be, my first priority.”

Ireland therefore entered the decisive round without the benefit of a discard score, leaving every remaining Irish performance to count towards the final team total.