Derry’s Jordan Coyle leads Irish charge in Mexico City with podium finish

Ireland’s top showjumpers made an emphatic start to the Latin American leg of the Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT), with Olympic medallist Cian O’Connor and Ardmore native Jordan Coyle claiming multiple podium finishes at the iconic Campo Marte arena.

The second leg of the prestigious tour saw a powerful Irish contingent lead the charge from the opening day. In Thursday’s competitive 1.45m two-phase class, which featured a world-class field of 54 athletes, O’Connor and Coyle secured a remarkable "double podium" for the Green Jackets.

Belgian Jérôme Guery took the spoils with Careca LS Elite and with a double clear, set the unbeatable time in the speed portion as the last duo from the opening group, posting 29.18 seconds.

Coyle and King Kannan GP (owned by Elan Farm) were in early after the break and set a quick time of 30.32 that had them in the silver medal position until the arrival of the very last combination to the sprawling grass arena, Cian O’Connor and Genghis Khan (Coolmore Showjumping).

The Olympic medallist gave it a good shot, taking exactly four-tenths of a second of Coyle’s standard and make it a very encouraging start for the Green Jackets.

READ NEXT: Were you at Celtic Park for Derry vs Antrim?

It was the first of two runner-up finishes for O’Connor and his talented 10-year-old at the lucrative five-star show, as they excelled once more on Saturday in the 1.55m Trofeo Banorte.

This boasted a high-class field of 45, 14 of which progressed to the jump-off. And there would be no denying the fairytale hometown story of a Mexican winner, as Eugenio Garza Perez and Chalouries PS maintained their composure to go clear once more with an unbeatable standard of 36.55.

It was O’Connor and Genghis Khan that went closest, leaving all the jumps intact and stopping the clock in 37.44 to snaffle the silver medal and a cheque of €21,100.