Cian O’Connor bids to add World Championship medal to his European and Olympic collection as World Equestrian Games come to a close

The 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games come to a conclusion today (Sunday) but not before the new Show Jumping World Champion is crowned at the North Carolina venue.

Cian O’Connor and Good Luck sit in sixth place going into today’s individual final at the World Equestrian Games (Photo: Erin Gilmore)

Ireland’s Cian O’Connor is nicely poised in sixth place in the individual final with his stallion Good Luck and with less than a fence separating him from silver medal position, the Meath-based rider is in with a great chance of adding to his already impressive championship medal collection.

O’Connor claimed individual silver at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, before adding another individual bronze in last years European Championships in Gothenburg, where he also helped Ireland to team Gold.

He is looking to join an elite group of Irish riders who have won World Championship Show Jumping medals. Eddie Macken took individual silver in 1974 at Hickstead (GBR) with Pele before again taking silver four years later at Aachen in Germany with the legendary Boomerang.

The very first World Equestrian Games were held in 1990 in Stockholm, and eight years later, the now Irish team manager Rodrigo Pessoa won the gold medal with Gandini Lianos. In 2002 at Jerez in Spain, Co Down’s Dermott Lennon took gold with the brilliant mare Liscalgot, becoming the first ever Irish World Champion.

Today’s World Championship final, which features only the top 25 combinations, will see riders carry forward their scores from the three competitions earlier this week. Germany’s Simone Blum sits in Gold medal position on 2.47 penalties with Max Kühner (AUT) in silver on 2.97, while Martin Fuchs (SUI) lies in Bronze on 4.68. O’Connor is in sixth place overall on a score of 6.69 penalties.

The first round of today’s final starts at 2.45pm Irish time. The top 12 combinations will then go forward to the second round which starts at 5.45pm. The new Show Jumping World Champion will be crowned at 6.30pm Irish time.

Today’s Show Jumping individual final at the World Equestrian Games will be shown live on Eurosport, BBC Red Button and on FEI TV.