Eventings HP manager couldnt be prouder after Aachen heroicsIrelands eventing boss, Sam Griffiths is absolutely thrilled with his teams fourth-place result at the FEI World Championships in Aachen yesterday and has set the target of improving upon that to medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.This was Griffiths first major championship as Horse Sport Irelands high performance manager for eventing, having been appointed in January, and securing qualification to the LA Games was the primary goal, along with following up last years European Championships silver medal with a global podium finish.The Australians squad of Ian Cassells with Millridge Atlantis (ISH), Pdraig McCarthy with MGH Zabaione (ISH), Austin OConnor with Colorado Blue, and Aoife Clark with Full Monty de Lacense, secured the Olympic berth and while just missing out on a bronze medal, illustrated themselves as genuine medal contenders on the west coast of America in two years.Georgie Goss and Kojak competed well in the individual class and all five of the Irish combinations finished inside the top 30, with Clark the highest positioned in 11th.Im absolutely thrilled with how all the Irish riders performed this week and their horses as well, says Griffiths.We came in really wanting to be very competitive. Our goal was to try and win a medal. We fell just a bit short but we achieved Olympic qualification and so were absolutely thrilled with that.The Australian is a dual Olympian, who won a team bronze medal in 2016 and finished fourth in the individual competition at the Rio de Janeiro Games.Given his intimate understanding and knowledge of what is required to be at peak at the right time, it is notable that he believes in Irelands ability to continue building on the results of the past 12 months.Crucially, while there is plenty of experience in the riding ranks, many of the horses are still developing. That leaves room for improvement, especially with a number of other combinations pushing hard to be involved.We feel that this is just the start of the journey of this group together and that we can really build on this and so were incredibly hopeful at LA, Griffiths stated.Were going to be very ambitious and look to try and win a medal at LA and I definitely feel weve got both the horses and riders to achieve that and this has been a great foundation.The key to continuing to build on that foundation is the positive atmosphere and harmony in the ranks, which Griffiths reveals was critical to performances in Germany.Its been an incredible team performance and thats obviously not just the riders but all the supporters behind us. The supporters behind us the owners, the grooms, the support staff have all been fantastic. Theyve all come together and pulled in the same direction and weve had a great feeling of team spirit.And at the end of the day, I couldnt be prouder.The post Griffiths targets medal in LA appeared first on .