Great Britain’s Nick Skelton, appearing in his seventh Olympic Games, made history Friday afternoon at the equestrian venue.
Skelton, riding Big Star, took gold in the individual jumping competition. And at 58 years of age, Skelton overtook Germany’s Klaus Balkenhol (team dressage, 1996) as the oldest Olympic gold medalist in equestrian history. Skelton now has two career Olympic gold medals, with the first coming four years ago in the team jumping competition.
With Skelton among six riders tied with no penalty points accrued there was a jump-off, with his time penalty (42.82) being lower than that of Sweden’s Peder Fredricson (43.35). Taking silver was Fredricson, with Canada’s Eric Lamaze taking bronze as a result of having a lower time penalty than Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat.
American Kent Farrington was part of the jump-off as well, ultimately finishing in fifth place. Ward McLain finished tied for ninth on four penalty points.
