Equestrian Canada has announced their nominated Canadian Pan American Teams (subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee Team Selection committee). The Games take place in Santiago, Chile from Oct. 20 – Nov. 5 and while always an exciting two weeks of competition, they are extraordinarily important this year as they represent the final chance for Canada to qualify all three teams for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
(See competition schedule here)
Dressage
The following Canadian dressage athlete combinations have been nominated:
Naima Moreira Laliberté / Statesman
Mathilde Blais Tétreault / Fedor
Camille Carier-Bergeron / Sound of Silence 4
Beatrice Boucher / Summerwood’s Limei
Reserves:
Tanya Strasser-Shostak / Fidelis Tyme
Shannon Dueck / Angelika MW
Just three of 15 Olympic team slots remain; two will be distributed at the Pan American Games, going to the two-highest ranked teams from FEI Olympic Qualifying Groups D (North America) and/or E (Central & South America), excluding teams already qualified.
Seeing as our toughest rival, the United States, has already qualified an Olympic team, the Canadians should easily snag a berth to Paris and hopefully even repeat their gold medal performance from Lima in 2019. The Brazilians, who were bronze medalists at that Games, will likely be contenders again.
Jumping
Canada’s Pan Am show jumping team will consist of:
Mario Deslauriers / Emerson
Tiffany Foster / Figor
Amy Millar / Truman
Beth Underhill / Nikka vd Bisschop
Traveling Reserve:
Erynn Ballard / Gakhir
Seeing as Canada did not qualify for the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Final in Barcelona, Spain, Sept 28- Oct. 1, the only remaining chance for Olympic team qualification with just four slots remaining is to be one of the three highest-ranked squads at the 2023 Pan Ams. The USA, who has also not yet qualified a jumping team, will be hungry and will likely be our biggest obstacle. Fortunately the strong Brazilians recently earned their Olympic spot at the FEI Nations Cup Finals in Barcelona, but other teams who could challenge Canada are Mexico and Colombia.
Eventing
The Canadian Eventing Team for the Pan Am Games will be:
Colleen Loach / FE Golden Eye
Karl Slezak / Hot Bobo
Lindsay Traisnel / Bacyrouge
Michael Winter / El Mundo
First Reserve
Jessica Phoenix / Freedom GS
Second Reserve
Dana Cooke / Quatro
Eventing has just three Olympic team berths up for grabs: one will go to the highest-placed team according to the final classification of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup Series 2023. Canada is currently last in the standings (16th) with one competition remaining – CCIO4*-NC-L Boekelo NED, October 4-8, 2023.
The other two team slots available at the Pan Am Games will be issued to the two highest-ranked teams from FEI Olympic Groups D and/or E, excluding teams already qualified. As this include the US who have already punched their ticket to Paris, this should not be a difficult task for this strong Canadian squad as long as all goes well on cross-country day. Our nearest rivals should be Brazil, who nabbed the silver medal in Lima ahead of our bronze hardware and are trained by Olympian William Fox-Pitt ‒ although in eventing, as we all know, anything can happen.
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