Chris Burton has grabbed an unexpected individual eventing silver for Australia at Chateau de Versailles – on a loaned horse he has only been riding for five months.
The 42-year-old Queenslander had ditched show jumping for another shot at eventing this year, and his switch paid off handsomely as he steered his brilliant new partner Shadow Man to second place on Monday.
Toowoomba’s Burton, now based in Britain, was lying third overnight after the dressage and cross-country sections but moved into the silver-medal position after Monday morning’s qualifying round.
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Then on a blazingly hot afternoon against the majestic backdrop of the Chateau, Burton and Shadow Man had no fences down again in the finale to put the pressure on the last rider to go, three-time Olympic champion Michael Jung.
Burton was in sight of earning Australia’s first individual eventing triumph since Matt Ryan piloted Kibah Tic Toc to victory in Barcelona in 1992.
But the 41-year-old German great Jung, on Chipmunk FRH, thrived under the ultimate pressure, going clear over the 12-fence course himself inside the 60-second time limit to win on 21.80 penalty points, just 0.60 clear of Burton.
Britain’s Laura Collett, who had earlier led GB to the team title, finished third on 23.10.
Burton and Shadow Man only had their first competition together in March, when British owner Ben Hobday – believing he had no realistic chance of making the Olympics himself amid huge competition in the UK – loaned the horse for six months to his Australian pal.
Burton, a former eventer who won team bronze in Rio eight years ago, had moved into show jumping but decided in recent months to have another bid for eventing gold, partnering the horse Hobday was convinced is “the best in the world”.