Shock moment Swedish Olympic showjumper and world No 1 is thrown over the top of his horse and into an obstacle during the men’s individual final in Paris

Disturbing scenes unfolded during the men’s individual show jumping final at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday after Swedish rider and world number one Henrick von Eckermann was thrown from his horse and crashed into a billboard.

BBC commentators Andy Austin and Nick Luck were stunned by the incident in which von Eckermann lost control of his horse, King Edward, while riding around the course.

The duo were about 35 seconds into their race and going well when King Edward appeared to lose his balance after a jump.

The horse then galloped to the side of the arena, where it suddenly stopped and threw Von Eckermann head over heels into a piece of equipment.

It seemed that the rider first hit the soles of his feet on the ground, before landing on his back on the dusty ground. Fortunately, although he looked tired from the fall, he quickly got up to run after King Edward, who had galloped off in the other direction.

The Swede, who won gold in the team jumping at Tokyo 2020 and two gold medals at the 2022 World Championships, was eliminated after the fall.

Austin told the BBC it was “the most amazing thing” he had ever seen.

Eurosport commentator Richard Vaughan said: ‘I can’t believe it.

‘Something wasn’t right. He looked a bit strange yesterday, I thought they were doing a really good job of climbing around but it’s all fallen apart.

“It was unraveling earlier. They came over the big double and the water seemed okay, but then the horse seemed to run away.”

Germany’s Christian Kukuk won gold aboard Checker 47, while Steve Guerdat and Dynamix De Belheme took silver.

Dutchmen Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z took bronze, while Team GB’s Scott Brash and Ben Maher finished sixth and ninth respectively.

More to follow…