Cross-country day at the Paris Olympic Games is Sunday, July 28, and course designer Pierre Le Goupil designed a beautiful track in homage to French history and the park at Chateau de Versailles where the equestrian events are taking place. Riders will tackle a 5,149-meter course with an optimum time of 9 minutes, 2 seconds, with 28 numbered obstacles and 45 jumping efforts.
The track winds through the historic park and crosses the iconic Grand Canal twice thanks to pontoons, which are floating on the water but have minimal movement to the point where it’s not noticeable. While the land doesn’t have vast amounts of terrain, Le Goupil has utilized what’s available, and the bank complex on course was made possible thanks to the dirt removed in order to level the space where the arena is located. Following the Games, the dirt will be returned to its original location.
“When I first heard about the cross-country being here, I said, ‘Ah it’s going to be flat. Straight lines. Crooked, very sharp turns, nothing to play with,’ and it’s totally different,” he said. ”There’s a lot of things to play with.”
Course designer Pierre Le Goupil. Kimberly Loushin Photos
When asked about where fitness might come to play around the course, starting at the halfway point, which is the bank complex at 16ABCD, Le Goupli wasn’t overly concerned given the relative flatness of the track, and said that horses at the Olympic level should be fit enough. He said he’d be more concerned about high heat, but with favorable weather conditions, he doesn’t anticipate it being a factor.
“Even with high heat like 35 or 36 [degrees Celsius] or more, we have more than half of the course that is in the shadow, that helps,” he said. “Being by the side of the Grand Canal also brings a bit of breeze and fresh air. The worst will be high heat and humidity. But here, conditions should be perfect for Sunday; 24, 25 degrees [75 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit], not more.”
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Given the breadth of experience of the field at an Olympics compared to a championship like the Europeans, Le Goupil was conscious of how he presented long options to give riders the opportunity to preserve a clear round—even if it’s costly on the clock, and he’s placed decorations around the course in strategic places to prevent riders from being foolhardy in their lines.
“In terms of safety or risk factor, there needs to be an opportunity for everybody to achieve but still be testing enough to make sure that everybody is at the level to finish,” he said.
Fence 1, The Olympic Crown.
Fence 2, The Builder’s Oxer, features carpentry tools, which is in reference to the course builders who build the intricate fences.
Fence 3, The Peacock’s Shelter.
Fence 4, The Courtship of the Peacock, is a ditch-and-brush.
Fence 5ABC, The Ménagerie Pond, is the first combination on course. This is situated on a piece of property where the King’s Menagerie was located. Initially Pierre Le Goupil was told he could not build in this space, however after showing some renderings, he got permission to build and renovate the space. This is the only water feature on the course that already existed, and the fountain was moved to the left side of the pond until after the Games.
Fence 5BC, after jumping in over the log at A, riders will jump the brush in the water and turn left to jump the bank out. The following fence is on a related distance and is labeled 6AB and can only be jumped if the rider does the direct route at 5. If they take the long route at 5, they are committed to jumping the long route at 6.
Fence 6AB, The Ménagerie Fountain.
Fence 7A, The Ulysses’ Companions, the riders will have quite a steep grade up after the bank.
Fence 7B. They’ll jump this birch on an angle after galloping up the grade.
These carvings decorate Fence 7AB.
Fence 8, The Reading Corner.
Fence 9, The Pastoral Enclosure.
Fence 10A, The Vauban Citadel, is angled over a ditch.
Fence 10B is a large drop into water.
Followed by lots of options on which corner to jump out at C.
Fence 11, The Science Laboratory.
Fence 12, The Enlightenment Bookcase.
The course passes by the Chateau de Versailles.
Fence 13AB, The Sailors’ Workshop, is a pair of angled upside-down boats.
Riders gallop across the Grand Canal twice over pontoons.
Fence 14, The Impressionists’ Guinguette.
Fence 15, The Tiny Ditch.
The back of Fence 16A, The Viewpoint Over The Grand Canal.
Another ditch at 16BC.
Finishing over at skinny at 16D.
Fence 17AB, The ‘á la Française’ Garden, has quite a long distance between the two elements.
Fence 18, The Stag.
Fence 19, The Estovers Log Piles.
Fence 20, The Estovers Log Piles.
Fence 21AB, The Whimsical Woods.
Fence 21C.
Fence 22, The Traditional French Equestrian School.
Fence 23A, The Étolie Royale Waters, the final water, is directly in front of the main arena.
After dropping in, the riders will turn left to a brush in the water that is perpendicular to the drop in.
They finish over a corner at 23D.
The back of the final water complex.
Riders will have a beautiful view of the canal and chateau at Fence 24, The Hundred Steps Staircase.
Fence 25.
Fence 26, The Cornelian Dilemma.
Fence 27, Los Angeles 2028.
Decorations at Fence 27 give a nod to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Fence 28, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. The final jump.
Boats can be seen on the Grand Canal currently but will not be in use during cross-country.
