Versailles, France—Aug. 2

Seventy-nine seconds. That’s how much time anchor rider McLain Ward had to make or break the United States’ chance at a team medal in show jumping at the Paris Olympic Games. A rail would knock the U.S. behind the Netherlands, and likely out of medal contention, a clear round would ensure a medal—the first U.S. equestrian medal of the Games.

It’s a position Ward has been in many times before, and one he admits he’s not always handled well in the past, but on this day, with an extravagant jumping, eye-catching bay named Ilex, the six-time Olympian delivered, keeping the team on a score of 4.

“Obviously this format is a real pressure cooker,” said Ward. “The first time we did this in Tokyo, I looked over at arguably 10 of the best riders in the world, and they were all green. Second time around, we know how it’s going to go. That break [after the first two rotations], it certainly ratchets up the pressure and the excitement, so I think that’s great sport.

“I actually thought Ilex felt great yesterday; I thought he felt brilliant,” he continued. “I was in a situation to just protect [against] a bad day and make sure we qualified. But I knew he was in for a good chance today. I believed in him, and my team put me in a great position to try to deliver in a moment, and everybody behind me made my job a little bit easier.”

The team, who had won a medal at each of Ward’s previous games except 2012, had guaranteed themselves bronze. Whether the team, comprised of Ward, Laura Kraut and Karl Cook, could climb higher on the podium was dependent on how the anchor riders from France and Great Britain performed.

Julien Epaillard of France had a rail with Dubai Du Cedre, dropping the home country to 7 faults, but they had a faster time than the Dutch, who were also on 7 faults, to secure the bronze. Great Britain’s lead rider, Ben Maher, had jumped clear with Dallas Vegas Batilly, but with a time fault, so they carried forward a score of 1 into the final round. Scott Brash couldn’t have a rail, but he could afford 2 time faults. One more, and they would be forced to a jump-off. But Brash accrued just 1 time fault with Jefferson, securing the Brits’ second team gold medal in equestrian events at the Games, after their eventing team won as well.

“Jefferson was amazing,” said Brash. “He jumped unbelievable with the atmosphere and things and stayed relaxed and cool and stayed focused on his job. Yeah I’m absolutely delighted.”

This marks the U.S. team’s third silver in as many Olympics, and Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland said he felt this was arguably the strongest team out of the three.

“We had a strong one in Rio, and this was stronger—and certainly a stronger [team] than we had in Tokyo. What they pulled off in Tokyo was just miraculous. We have three of the greatest riders that have ever ridden for our country, on this team: Kent Farrington, Laura and McLain—and then we brought him,” Ridland said, pointing to Cook. “What that is, is that’s the present and the future. And Karl was honored, excited to be on the team. The first thing he did when we talked about, he says, ‘I’m here to do whatever I need to do to help the other three, to do whatever I need to do to support.’

“Well guess what he did?” he said. “Because that is … one of the hardest things to do, to get a last-minute, two hours before the event [call], and say, ‘Oh, by the way, can you bring your white breeches? You’re on.’ And then duplicate it the next day. Hats off to you. And of course, we’re very proud of the other three.”

While his teammates are Olympic veterans, Cook was competing in his first Olympics, and much like Liz Halliday did for the U.S. eventing team, he got the call-up quite late, finding out he would jump just before the two-hour deadline ahead of competition yesterday.

“I think I’m still digesting,” said Cook, 33. “It’s amazing, being able to compete with people I’ve watched for so many years and respected and learned from for so many years. And to be on the inside and watch how it all works, and to be able to go in and jump and do it all together, it’s what you hope for when you’re a kid hoping to go to the Games one day. It’s really special.”

Ward heaped praise on the team’s youngest rider for his composure throughout the week.

“I have to say what Karl had to do this year was one of the hardest things to do,” said Ward. “To be sitting there in the wings, so to speak, supporting. It’s already a hard role because our dream is to ride at the Olympic Games and win medals, and to do that, and he was the most professional gentleman, and then in the in the 11th hour, so to speak, to have to come in and deliver two clear rounds. For me, and I think Laura, that was all the respect to the world as a competitor. That was not easy.”

While 14 riders jumped clear yesterday over Gregory Bodo and Santiago Varela Ullastres’ course, today, far fewer did, with Cook and Caracole De La Roque being one of 7 pairs to jump clear today. Cook was one of four riders to jump clear in both rounds, though today was a clean-slate final.

“This course requires you to ride on the track that suits the stride you have and the horse you have,” said Cook. “So if you hit that track then things are so much easier. It was just really focusing on the track, the stride and all that, and I’m just so grateful for Caracole. She’s such an amazing horse. She’s stuck with me the whole time, and I couldn’t be happier.”

In Tokyo, Kraut, 58, became the oldest female Olympian to win a medal since 1904. With another silver to her credit, she’s broken her own record. She was also particularly proud of the fact that she brought the same horse, Baloutinue, to both Olympics, and that he won a medal at both.

While Kraut knew they could’ve had gold without her rail, she was pragmatic about it.

“Any competitor would have the coulda, shoulda, woulda,” she said. “I’ve gone back, I’ve watched the video like 10 times, and it was an interesting mistake. The horse doesn’t normally jump over his front end like that, so I’m not quite sure why that happened, because I felt like I approached it as I normally would. But those things happen. He was fantastic, yesterday and today. I’m just grateful to have these two alongside me. As I said earlier, when you first interviewed me, I’m like, ‘Come on, boys!’ Yeah, to pull it off, I think I’m proud of the performance. But for sure if I hadn’t had that fence, we would be wearing a different color.”

The Golden Brits

Great Britain last won team gold at the Olympics in 2012 in London, and two of their riders, Ben Maher and Brash, were on that team. The third member of their squad, Harry Charles, was 13 at the time, and watched his father, Peter Charles, compete in Greenwich Park for the gold.

“[My dad] said, ‘Enjoy it. Whatever you do, you’ve worked hard to get here,’ and after he said, ‘Enjoy every minute of that ceremony. This will probably be the best moment of your life,’ ” said Harry.

Though the youngest on the team at 25, this is Harry’s second Olympics. He jumped clear today with Romeo 88.

“It’s gonna take a few days or weeks to sink in,” he said. “Olympic champion sounds pretty good. We have our horses to thank, and all of the background staff, teams, grooms, farriers, vets, everyone, has come together to make this possible. You see us with the medals, but it’s really a village behind us. Very grateful.”

Maher was celebrating his own milestone, having now earned three gold medals. (He also was individual gold in Tokyo with Explosion W.) He is now tied with Charlotte Dujardin and Richard Meade for holding the most gold medals for a British equestrian.

“We have amazing horses, and it comes down to experience and great riding,” said Maher. “And at the end of the day, they were two of the best rounds—the hardest rounds—but two the best rounds I’ve seen ridden. They were executed perfectly for those horses, and at the end of the day it comes down to timing in every sport and bringing it together at the right time.

“[I] probably would say none of us could have done a better job today than what we did,” he said. “It’s not like we go home and watch, and we think we can do something better. And that’s probably very rare in our sport, or that’s what I would say. So everything comes together and just an amazing feeling.”

The French also earned their second equestrian medal of the games, this time a bronze.

“It feel very good today,” said Epaillard. “It was the objective today to have a medal. I think the horses were amazing today. The atmosphere here for us was super, a lot of pressure, but positive pressure, so very good from our horses today and good to have a medal in our country. It’s always nice.”

Simon Delestre (I Amelusina R 51) described the French team, which also included Olivier Perreau (Dorai D’Aiguilly), as “very friendly.”

“We are also friends in our normal life,” he said. “So for sure we give all we can to fight for a medal, and of course having a medal here in France, something [that’s] never gonna happen again. And it was really a goal for more than a year to really catch a medal. But OK, [the] match was tough, as always in that kind of championships. So [many] good riders, so many good teams. It’s so close, that OK, a medal is something amazing.”

Germany, who was the top-seeded team after yesterday’s qualifier, could not replicate three clears again today, finishing fifth on a score of 8. The reigning gold medalists from Sweden also failed to find the podium with all three of their riders having a rail to finish sixth.

See complete results here.

The Chronicle has a reporter on site at the Paris Olympics. See all of our coverage here.

See all of our show jumping coverage.