Team Ireland show jumping duo whet appetite for Versailles medal bid

One week ago during the final day of eventing at Paris 2024, the golden spectre of the Chateau de Versailles in the middle distance evoked the air of a mirage.

Fast forward to this Monday, which was not a bank holiday in Paris as it was back home, and there was no sense that a sighting of the grand palace was a trick of the eye.

And nor was the apparition of two of Team Ireland's riders locking out the top two spots of the Individual Show Jumping qualifier leaderboard for what felt like an age.

Versailles was again at the mercy of the sun but Shane Sweetnam and Daniel Coyle, aboard their trusty steeds James Kann Cruz and Legacy, tamed the elements and gave more impetus to the notion that Ireland's unprecedented chapter of Olympic medals over the last week is not necessarily close to being bookended.

Taking up a spot right behind the white picket fence that provided the only barrier between some journalists, photographers, Paris volunteers and the equestrian action, one was close enough to hear the panting of the horses as they steeled themselves ahead of the next hurdle to vault.

The other sound to keep an ear out for was the 40,000 spectators whose collective intake of breathe, to break the long silences, constantly gave accurate feedback as to when an obstacle had not been successfully negotiated.

It had been a mixed bag for the early riders by the time lucky number 13 was called to the arena by the PA announcer.

Sweetnam arrived through the gate and as the silence descended on that corner of Versailles - the only sound being the clip-clopping of James Kann Cruz's hooves on the gravel - the Corkman began methodically negotiating the first obstacles at the far end of the arena closest to where the chateau loomed in the