Olympic heartache for Irish in Madrid

IRELAND’S show jumpers failed in their goal of Olympic qualification at the European Championships in Madrid, Spain, yesterday, while Billy Twomey also saw his aspirations for an individual medal come crashing down.

Going into yesterday’s final round, Shane Sweetnam, Nicola FitzGibbon, Denis Lynch and Twomey held the last of three Olympic slots on offer after two days of jumping, but a lacklustre display saw the quartet fall to the challenge of their rivals.

It was the pain on Twomey’s face that best summed up Ireland’s performance after he accumulated 12 faults with Tinka’s Serenade to erase two days of sublime jumping that left him in second place before yesterday’s competition.