The build-up to the 19th Pan American Games is at boiling point this week, and for Chile it is a very special moment as the country which is renowned for its stunning natural beauty, unique cultural traditions and rich history welcomes athletes from all across the Americas for the very first time.
From October 20 to November 5, the capital city of Santiago will take centre stage as more than 6,000 of the best athletes on the continent compete across 38 sports, with qualification for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games adding an extra edge to the tension and excitement.
The countries that have previously hosted the Pan American Games are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, the United States of America and Venezuela. The Games always take place the year ahead of the Olympics, and in equestrian sport there are three Olympic qualifying spots on offer in Jumping and two each in Dressage and Eventing, all of which will be hotly-contested again this time around.
The participating nations this year include Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, USA, Uruguay and Venezuela, while the two athletes from Guatemala will compete under a Neutral PS Flag.
The 2023 equestrian venue is at the Escuela de Equitación Regimiento Granaderos in Quillota, a traditional army compound in the Valparaiso region that lies in the foothills of Chile’s coastal mountain range. Quillota is located 126 km from Santiago city, and the action gets underway with Dressage next Sunday, 22 October.
Dressage
A total of 11 nations, eight with teams, three with individual athletes and a maximum of 36 starters will line out in Dressage.
Team Canada came out on top at the last Pan Americans in Lima, Peru in 2019 pinning USA into silver medal spot and Brazil into bronze, the Canadians and Brazilians earning the two spots on offer for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Canada’s Moreira Laliberté won both the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special with her Sandro Hit gelding Statesman, and she was joined by Jill Irving, Tina Irwin and Lindsay Kellock to take the team title.
But it was the USA’s Sarah Tubman and First Apple who claimed individual gold with a single percentage point advantage over Canada’s Irwin and Laurencio in silver while Tubman’s team-mate Jennifer Baumert took the bronze with Handsome. The American record in the history of Dressage at the PanAms, which dates right back to the first edition staged in Buenos Aires (ARG) in 1951, includes eight team and 10 individual titles, and Tubman made it three-in-a-row individual victories for USA following a back-to-back double from compatriot Steffen Peters in 2011 and 2015.
Both Small Tour and Big Tour combinations compete at the PanAms, and the Small Tour riders were first to battle it out in the individual gold-medal-deciding Intermediate I Freestyle/Grand Prix Freestyle on the final day in Lima. Just four horse-and-rider partnerships contested the higher-level Big Tour class, but the medals were decided by the biggest scores on the day regardless of the category, so it was Small Tour contenders Lockman, Irwin and Baumert who posted those to claim the medals.
Chasing down the Olympic qualification spots this time around will be Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.
The competition timetable for Dressage is:
21 October – Horse Inspection and Draw for Starting Order
22 October – Prix St Georges / Grand Prix (Team and Individual Qualifier)
23 October – Intermediate I / Grand Prix Special (Team Final and Individual Qualifier) Team Medal Ceremony
24 October – Second Horse Inspection and Draw for Individual Final
25 October – Intermediate I Freestyle / Grand Prix Freestyle (Individual Final) Individual Medal Ceremony
Check out the full list of Dressage entries here.
Eventing
A total of nine nations, eight with a team, one with an individual athlete and a maximum of 34 starters will line out in Eventing.
The Americans are the defending team champions here following the success of Lynn Symansky (RF Cool Play), Tamie Smith (Mai Baum), Doug Payne (Star Witness) and Boyd Martin (Tsetserleg) who reigned supreme in 2019 ahead of Brazil in silver and Canada in bronze.
USA has long been the dominant force in Pan American Eventing, with a total of 10 team and 11 individual titles.
Martin and Symansky took individual gold and silver respectively in 2019, and bronze went to Brazil’s Carlos Parro (Quaikin Qurious). USA and Brazil took the two qualifying spots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The cross-country test is always the thriller in the sport of Eventing, and appointed to design the track in Quillota is Pierre Le Goupil from France, the man who will also create the cross-country challenge for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Versailles (FRA) next summer, so there is huge interest in his ideas.
USA is already qualified in Eventing for Paris 2024. Teams seeking one of the two Olympic qualifying spots on offer at the Pan American Games 2023 are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay.
The competition timetable for Eventing is:
25 October – Draw of nations, Cross-Country course open to athletes
26 October – First Horse Inspection
27 October – Dressage
28 October – Cross-Country
29 October – Second Horse Inspection and Jumping test (Final Individual and Team) Team and Individual Medal Ceremony
Check out the full list of Eventing entries here.
Jumping
A total of 18 nations, nine with teams and nine with individuals, and a maximum of 47 starters will line out in Jumping.
It was Brazil, Mexico and USA that clinched team gold, silver and bronze in Lima four years ago, Marlon Zanotelli (Sirene de la Motte), Eduardo Menezes (HS Chaganus), Rodrigo Lambre (Chacciama) and Pedro Veniss (Quabri de l’Isle) bringing it home for the Brazilian champions. It was a really close contest for silver and bronze.
Zanotelli went on to take the Individual title for Brazil ahead of Argentina’s Jose Maria Larocca (Finn Lente) in silver and America’s Beezie Madden (Breitling LS) in bronze while Brazil, Mexico and Argentina claimed the three Jumping qualification spots on offer for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
USA has won the Pan American Jumping team title on seven occasions and Brazil has won it six times, while Americans have also racked up six individual victories. Chile made its mark in these Games at the inaugural event in 1951 when Alberto Larraguibel, César Mendoza, Ricardo Echeverria and Joaquin Larrain claimed the team title and Capt Larraguibel steered Julepe to take individual gold.
At the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games the countries chasing qualification for Paris 2024 will be Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay and USA.
The competition timetable for Jumping is:
29 October – Horse Inspection
30 October – Training
31 October – First Individual and Team competition
1 November – Second Competition Round 1, Second Competition Round 2
(Team Final and Individual qualifier). Team medal ceremony.
2 November – Second Horse Inspection
3 November – Third Competition Round 1, Third Competition Round 2 (Individual Final). Individual medal ceremony.
Check out the full list of Jumping entries here.
You can follow the action across all three disciplines on FEI.TV. (ed note: the PanAm Sports Channel is also promising coverage of all sports here.) CLST (Chile Summer Time zone) is one hour ahead of EDT.
More about the equestrian events at the Pan American Games 2023 in Santiago (CHI) here.
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