Phoenix and team place 11th at Paris Olympics

Lisha Van Nieuwenhove

Photo submitted by Jessica Phoenix

Uxbridge native Jessica Phoenix, along with Team Canada Eventing teammates Mike Winter and Karl Slezak, finished 11th overall during the equestrian eventing portion of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

According to a news release put out by Equestrian Canada (EC) on equestrian.ca, on the second day of eventing, “Canada’s team of three all successfully navigated the 45 jumping efforts over the 5,149 metre course, gaining several places on the leaderboard landing in 11th going into the third and final day of eventing competition.”

Great Britain’s team took the gold medal, France earned silver, and Japan took bronze.

In the individual eventing, Phoenix placed 38th overall, with Winter and Slezak placing 35th and 32nd, respectively.

Just before Phoenix’s horse, Freedom, made the journey back to Canada, Phoenix posted a video on Facebook of her frolicking about in a large pasture.

“That horse is an amazing horse,” Phoenix said to EC. “This is definitely the biggest venue that she has ever jumped and with it being her first team experience she started out full of running and full of confidence and then she got into the water, landed it, looked up, and realized just how many people were surrounding the course. To have her come back from that and finish the way she did, I couldn’t be more proud of her.”