dcro

Verliefden (somewhat expectedly) gets 2s and 3s for flying changes today... It's over. Quotas for Austria and France.

If you are that willing to settle, you shouldn't ever complain about anything.

I don't remember seeing Qatar/Ukraine on entry lists in recent weeks, so most likely they went for 5.1 route. Apparently the list of MER athletes hasn't been updated since November, so we may have to wait a bit.

Onto the Group F for jumping. Virtual standings look like this... Ahmad Saber Hamcho - 871 Ibrahim Hani Bisharat - 824 Ramzy Al Duhami - 684 Syria and Jordan have no competition, but one of them could miss out if Qatar fails to keep its team... Saudi Arabia failed to qualify for the second Olympics in a row. Really weird, considering they won a team bronze medal in 2012! Interestingly, all those Damascus competitions could prove very costly for Syria, as Bisharat might be able to overtake Hamcho on December 30th (of all days). But then again, even winning both remaining Damascus competition might not be enough (if too few athletes are entered).

And it was always largely inconsequential.

Well, yes, she should be okay. I just find it curious how she scored most of her points in these small Villeneuve-Loubet competitions. But nevertheless, all those competitions are listed as 'D' category events, and as such they should give her plenty of points. Apparently she got another 4th place today, what probably puts her out of reach for the Thai rider too. Hong Kong is all washed up with nobody competing anymore.

Bermuda qualifies in equestrian thanks to Annabelle Collins & Joyero VG. They could possibly be the last nation to get their first athlete in 2019 (unless Sri Lanka and/or Jordan get confirmed too before January).

New 2nd place yesterday for Karlsson... In theory that should put her in qualification position, with 324 points...

Latvia and Luxembourg are now guaranteed debutants in equestrian.

So, after today, Austria and France are 99.9% qualified. The only way for one of them to miss out is if Roos and Verliefden both score over 85% tomorrow. Additionally, Luxembourg is now guaranteed to take an individual Group B quota. It will be their Olympic debut in equestrian.

Aaaand it's over. Dittmann got 62% today, meaning South Africa loses their dressage team qualification. Really sad. First they miss out on Rio 2016 by 0.02% (!!!), and now they qualify and then (just) miss out on MER. 'Congrats' to Austria and France for their parasitic qualification (unless Belgians collectivelly score like 90% tomorrow lol)... This also means no qualification for Palestine...

It's really sad how that Pyeongchang injury apparently completely destroyed Popović's career.

Nothing new yet... I don't think they have achieved enough MERs in competitions, so probably their only chance to keep the team is 5.1 clause of the qualification system...

This is only for non-Olympic events. It's a very inconsequential event, especially when held right after the Olympics. And yeah, I agree that we are better of without junior/youth events.

Well... At least I'm fairly good at listening and understanding German language, thanks to all those hours spent on ClipMyHorse.tv. It also helps that their main commentator often uses onomatopoetic sounds when commentating dressage.

Meanwhile, Bisharat is still farming points Mongolia-style.