Maher tops individual show jumping qualifying as Americans fall short of final

Great Britain's Ben Maher and his horse Explosion W head into the individual show jumping final with the fastest qualification time of 73 riders in Tokyo. 

This is Maher's fourth-straight Olympic appearance with the British jumping squad. He won team gold on home soil at the 2012 London Games aboard Triple X III. 

It was a disappointing day for the Americans, with none of the three riders advancing to the final round on Aug. 4. 

Jessica Springsteen, daughter of Bruce Springsteen, made her Olympic debut, riding clean until the third-to-last jump of the course. Her horse Don Juan van de Donkhoeve took a tight four strides into the final combo, grazing the front rail of an oxer with his back leg and sending it down for four penalty faults. She finished with a time of 87.15 seconds with no time penalties, but was six spots short of making the final.

Only the top 30 riders from the qualifying round will jump for gold on Wednesday. 

American teammate Kent Farrington followed in her strides, taking the same tight approach to the final oxer and knocking the same rail. He and his horse Gazelle finished 1.42 seconds slower than Springsteen, also missing the cut.

Laura Kraut, who won team gold at the 2008 Beijing Games, was the last American to go and also had one rail down on the same oxer tripping up her teammates. Her horse Baloutinue also knocked the final jump for a total of four penalties.

The individual show jumping final takes place at 6 a.m. ET on NBCSN, the NBC Sports app and on NBCOlympics.com.