Davis Helps USA to Show Jumping Silver

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Lucy Davis and her USA teammates weren’t horsing around in the show jumping finals last week at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

Aboard her 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding Barron, the 23-year-old equestrienne had zero penalties in the second round of qualifications at Deodoro Olympic Park. Davis, appearing in her first Olympic Games, was the youngest rider in the field.

Davis, Kent Farrington, Beezie Madden and McLain Ward tied for first place with Brazil, the Netherlands and Germany (all with zero penalties) in Round 1 of the team finals last Tuesday, but Madden, a four-time Olympian, was forced to withdraw from the competition when her horse Cortes C suffered an injured tendon.

Down one rider, Team USA needed near-perfect performances in Round 2 of the finals to earn a medal last Wednesday.

Davis, Farrington and Ward accrued five points between them to secure the silver medal. France took the gold with only three penalties and Germany (eight penalties) won the bronze in a jump-off with Canada.

Davis tied for 32nd with 12 penalties in the individual competition Friday. Farrington (fifth place) was the highest American finisher. Nick Skelton of Great Britain won the gold medal, Peder Fredricson of Sweden the silver and Eric Lamaze the bronze.

Davis grew up near Mandeville Canyon and started riding ponies in Sullivan Canyon. Growing up, she played AYSO soccer as well as softball and basketball at the Palisades Recreation Center. She went to Calvary Christian for preschool,  then attended St. Matthew’s before moving on to Harvard-Westlake High in Studio City.

She was awarded the U.S. Equestrian Team’s 2012 Lionel Guerrand-Hermes Trophy, presented annually to a young rider exemplifying sportsmanship, and won the 2013 Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Davis, a 2015 Stanford graduate, was one of 16 current or former Cardinal athletes who racked up 27 medals across 20 Olympic events. The USA won gold medals in show jumping at the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece, and the 2008 Games in Beijing, China, but failed to medal at the 2012 Games in London.

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Also participating in his first Olympics was Sunset Mesa resident Jordan Wilimovsky, who came close to medaling in both of his swimming events.

On August 12 he placed fourth in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle and last Tuesday he placed fifth in the 10K open-water swim at Copacabana Beach.

The 22-year-old took first place (and third overall) in his qualifying heat in 14:48.23 before clocking a personal-best 14:45.03 in the finals the next day.

Gregorio Paltrinieri from Italy won the gold in 14:34.57, Wilimovsky’s USA teammate Connor Jaeger (14:39.48) won the silver and Italy’s Gabrielle Detti won the bronze in 14:40.86.

Prior to the Olympics, Wilimovsky’s best 1,500 was 14:56.34 at the 2015 Summer Nationals.

Wilimovsky, who began swimming at the Palisades-Malibu YMCA pool in Temescal Gateway Park and was a Junior Lifeguard at Will Rogers State Beach, swam the 6.2-mile open-water marathon in one hour, 53 minutes and three seconds, 1.2 seconds behind fourth-place finisher Zu Lijun of China.

Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands, who was runner-up by 12 seconds to Wilimovsky at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, clocked 1:52:59.8 to capture the gold medal by less than one-tenth of a second over Spyridon Gianniotis of Greece. Marc-Antoine Olivier of France took the bronze.

Wilimovsky, a senior at Northwestern University, is the first U.S. swimmer to qualify for the Olympics in both pool and open-water events.