Springsteen, US team qualify for equestrian jumping final

TOKYO – Jessica Springsteen and the U.S. equestrian jumping squad earned an encore show successful qualifying Friday night.

Springsteen and golden medal-winning teammates Laura Kraut and McClain Ward secured a spot successful Saturday night's squad jumping last with a trio of astir cleanable trips astir the Equestrian Park course. Their combined 13 punishment points ranked 5th of 19 entrants — the apical 10 precocious to the medal round.

Springsteen is the girl of famed rocker Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band wife, Patti Scialfa. The 29-year-old — ranked 14th successful the satellite — failed to marque the idiosyncratic jumping finals successful her Olympic debut this week but came backmost with a beardown thrust Friday. Her horse, Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, clipped a obstruction connected the 13th of 14 obstacles, the lone flaw connected an different awesome jaunt.

“Jessie’s brilliant," said Ward, a golden medalist successful 2008 on with Kraut. "The equine is brilliant. She’s had really a small spot of atrocious luck. Her equine jumps phenomenal, and I deliberation volition present a wide tomorrow.”

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Springsteen is hardly the archetypal rider with a celebrated genitor to interruption done successful the notoriously costly athletics — astir notably, Princess Anne represented Britain successful the eventing contention astatine the 1976 Montreal Games.

But the spotlight has been agleam connected Springsteen this week, adjacent though she's making conscionable her archetypal title quality successful a tract afloat of decorated riders.

About a fractional twelve members of the Bruce Springsteen Japan Facebook radical gathered extracurricular the locked equestrian stadium past week to connection support. Back home, astir each the mainstreem sum for equestrian has focused connected her, and she's drawn by acold the astir attraction from reporters successful interrogation areas this week.

Springsteen said it's been casual to tune retired the involvement erstwhile her and Don are saddled up.

“For me, 1 happening astir riding I've ever loved, good archetypal my emotion for the horse, but erstwhile I'm successful the ringing and the doorbell goes off, I'm completely, 100% focused connected that,” she said. "So immoderate extracurricular pressures oregon thing other going connected truly benignant of conscionable fades distant and I’m truly successful that moment.”

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Springsteen learned to thrust connected a household workplace successful Colts Neck, New Jersey, archetypal showing an involvement erstwhile her parent started taking lessons.

“She was similar my archetypal riding idol," Springsteen said. "I utilized to ticker her leap being like, ‘Oh my God, she’s jumping truthful big. I’m ne'er going to beryllium capable to bash that.’”

The workplace besides has Western horses, and way rides done the woods are a regular hobby for the full family. The radical was barred from traveling to Japan to ticker Jessica Springsteen successful idiosyncratic owed to the coronavirus, but the U.S. rider said they've been watching from New Jersey and sending photos of themselves successful Team USA gear.

“I’ve been truthful grateful that my parents person supported maine passim my career,” she said. “They’ve been connected this travel for me. It’s been similar a immense imagination for them arsenic well, truthful I’m conscionable truly blessed that I tin marque them proud.”

Sweden was the lone state to implicit qualifying without immoderate penalties and volition effort Saturday for its archetypal medal successful the lawsuit since a metallic successful 2004. The defending champion French besides qualified, arsenic did accepted jumping standouts Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Britain.

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