Poland’s leading horse and rider combination were eliminated at the Tokyo Olympics eventing first trot-up this morning.
Pawel Spisak was asked to take Banderas to the holding box when he was first inspected. When he re-presented, he was spun by the ground jury.
Poland will still be able to field a full team as alternate Jan Kaminski (Jard) will join Malgorzata Cybulska (Chenaro 2) and Joanna Pawlak (Fantastic Frieda) in the team. But Pawel’s elimination will be a heavy blow to Polish hopes as he and Banderas were the nation’s most experienced pair at this Games, plus they are left without the option to swap in an alternate in the case of horse or rider injury during the competition.