Mark Todd third after cross country

Few say they are surprised by what Mark Todd does on a horse but there were plenty left shaking their heads as they glanced at the leaderboard and saw his name in third after today's cross country of the three-day event.

The 56-year-old Kiwi who retired for eight years is in with a great chance of winning a fourth Olympic individual medal and unprecedented third gold.

He was 0.6 seconds over the allotted time of 10 minutes and three seconds in this morning's (NZT) cross country and picked up 0.4 time penalties to move to 39.50. He now sits behind German Ingrid Klimke and Sweden's Sara Algotsson Ostholt on 39.30 who both went clear and under time.

It is the narrowest of margins, considering a dropped rail in the show jumping equates to four penalties, but Todd was kicking himself a little for being tardy around the course at Greenwich Park.

"He was fantastic," he said of his horse Campino. "I knew I had to go out there and go hard early. It was a big ask for a young horse like this to go that quickly around a track like this ... but I knew I had to keep pushing and asking the questions and he kept responding. It was slightly annoying to miss out by one second but I'm absolutely thrilled with him."

It means two clear rounds in tomorrow's show jumping will guarantee him another medal but, with two tucked away at home for his wins in 1984 and 1988, Todd has developed a taste for the golden variety. He also won individual bronze in 2000.

A mistake from both Klimke and Ostholt Algotsson would see him move up to first but, equally, he could drop as low as seventh if he dislodged a rail.

It is a remarkable performance from a remarkable rider to be in contention once again. He retired from the sport after the 2000 Olympics and got back in the saddle only in time to compete at Beijing in 2008.

He's the oldest competitor in the eventing at 56 but has one of the youngest horses in Campino, who is only nine and with little experience at major events. Just 12 months ago he was a two-star quality horse - the Olympics is a four-star event - but, as teammate Andrew Nicholson said, Todd is "the man to have on it. He's a genius."

He's also been on this stage before - seven times in fact. What his horse might lack in experience, he makes up for it with his nous gleaned over the last 30 years.

It helped when the buckle on his reins came undone early on his ride and he still looked comfortable on a course that proved very challenging for some of the lesser riders. It was tight and twisty but not particularly demanding technically and the biggest challenge was time.

It meant many pushed it harder than their capabilities and 15 riders in the field of 74 were eliminated after falls. One was overnight leader Yoshiaki Oiwa of Japan who came off his horse after the drop down the steep bank.

Italian rider Stefano Brecciaroli, who was second after the dressage, went 29 seconds over time and out of contention.

Nicholson, still hot after his controversial dressage ride yesterday, blitzed the course on Nereo and is now ninth on 45.00 and New Zealand's third counter, Jonathan Paget, is in 14th on 48.90.

It means New Zealand are now fourth in the team's competition, but less than one rail behind Sweden in third and Great Britain in second. Germany enjoy a six-point advantage in first.

The show jumping will be contested over two rounds. The first counts for both the individual and team's event and the top 25 riders then move onto the second phase to decide the individual medals.

Amazingly, Todd has a realistic chance of grabbing one of those.