SANTIAGO, Chile –The U.S. Eventing team blew a 19 point lead in the Eventing show jumping phase, dropping the team from the gold medal to a silver medal and dropping Elisabeth Halliday from the silver medal to seventh, Sharon White from the bronze medal to 10th and Sydney Elliott from seventh to eighth while Caroline Pamukcu held on to her gold medaldesspite crashing through one fence.

Caroline Pamukcu on HSH Blake (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)For only the third time in the 72-year history of the Pan American Games, Canada claimed Eventing team gold on Sunday, Oct. 29.

It was a real upset when Michael Winter on El Mundo, Colleen Loach on Fe Golden Eye, Lindsay Traisnel on Bacyrouge and Karl Slezak on Hot Bobo pinned the leading Americans back to silver medal spot when the Jumping course designed by Marina Azevedo - the first-ever female designer at the Pan Americans who will also set the tracks for Jumping later this week - proved a game-changer.

Brazil dropped from overnight silver-medal-spot to bronze but, along with Canada, achieved their goal of Olympic qualification, while the USA’s Caroline Pamukcu held on to take the individual title ahead of Brazil’s Marcio Carvalho Jorge in silver and Canada’s Traisnel in bronze.

When Sharon White on Claus B had four fences down the US began to look vulnerable, and then Dressage leader Liz Halliday, who slipped to silver medal spot with time faults in cross country, had three down and it was now vital for Pamukcu to stay clear if the  U.S. was to hold on to the win.

 

PAMUKCU'S 8-year-old gelding HSH Blake was jumping well until his 29-year-old rider saw a very long stride to the oxer at fence five and missed the distance to bring it crashing down.

Canada's Lindsay Traisnel on Bacyrouge (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillanm Photography   )Pamukcu was lucky Blake didn't fall, and she finished the rest of the course clean, but team gold was gone and it would be the silver medal for the defending champions by an agonizing margin of just 0.1 penalty points when they completed on 115.7 behind the Canadians on 115.6.

Pamukcu still managed to hold on to individual gold when completing on 30.8 while Brazil’s Jorge took silver on 32.2 and Canada’s Traisnel moved up from fifth to bronze with a final scoreline of 34.2.

“It’s definitely bitter-sweet but I was very proud of our weekend competing alongside these ladies”, said America’s Elliott. White admitted that “there are probably a lot of “if onlys” going on now in our own heads, but we fought hard to the bitter end and today was obviously a bit disappointing but we are all so proud of Caroline. Everyone is already planning how we are going to get it done better next time.”

Halliday put it bluntly. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a bit gutted right now, I think we all are, it’s certainly not the result we came here to do. But it is what it is, and sometimes that’s how it goes with horses and we have to take it on the chin and stand up and be proud of what we did achieve, and look at ways to keep fighting hard to be better. The USA has really strong riders and horses right now and we have to keep pushing”, she said.

Caroline Pamukcu (Photo by Sarah Miller)Pamukcu was delighted to find herself in individual gold medal spot but acutely aware that her fence down was costly.

“I get a bit eager sometimes and that was definitely showing my age there but I’m grateful for a great horse," she said. "I’ve ridden a lot of sale horses and I know when I’ve made a mistake you pull yourself together and kick on! I just saw a stride, I feel awful because if I didn’t have that silly rail. It cost us the gold but I promise I won’t make such a silly mistake again."

“I’m just so grateful for this opportunity and still in shock to be honest," said Pamukcu. "I really came here to deliver a good result for the team and that was my focus. These teammates really took me under their wing this week, and I think that we have a great pipeline in our country both with riders and horses, and that’s really exciting, and I feel like this medal is a testament to that. I got a little bit eager at fence five, but grateful for a great horse, when you make a mistake, you have to put yourself together and keep kicking on.”

“Firstly, in our disappointment of today, we’re also absolutely thrilled for Caroline, her owners, and her support group. She was incredible this whole week. We’re very proud of her and it’s so well-deserved,” said Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello.

“It’s hard in the moment to look back and immediately start analyzing, but we all need to think about it for a couple of days, and with that will come more clarity on what we can do moving forward to not be in this position again," said Costello. "It’s good that we are all disappointed with silver because it means we want to be better, but are also genuinely happy for our friends, the Canadians, and glad to see both them and Brazil punch their tickets to Paris. As a team, we’re going to have to go away from this, analyze ourselves, and find a way to come back stronger.”

Caroline Pamukcu on HSH Blake (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)For the team, Sydney Elliott of Benton, La., on QC Diamantiare was the first to go for the team and finished with two down to add eight faults to her score in addition to a time fault, finishing on 42.5 and eighth individually.

The remaining three for the U.S. were the final three rounds, with Sharon White of Summit Point, W.V., on Claus 63, finishing with four down and  just over the time allowed, to complete her first championship on a 47.0 for 10th place overall.

Liz Halliday of Ocala, Fla., on Miks Master C had three rails and 1.6 in time to inished in seventh place individually on a 42.4 in her championship debut for the team.