Sunday, 17 June 2012:

Edwina Tops-Alexander showed why she's a big chance to win Australia's first-ever Olympic show jumping medal with another podium finish on the world's richest tour.

Sydney-born Tops-Alexander finished third in the fifth round at Cannes, France on Saturday, retaining her overall lead in the Global Champions Tour.

Tops-Alexander is the defending series champion after winning the tour title, and more than one million euros ($A1.27 million) in prizemoney, last year.

In Cannes, Tops-Alexander, riding her chestnut gelding Cevo Itot du Chateau, was one of only three combinations to jump a double clear round.

But their time was fractionally slower than winner Gerco Schroder from the Netherlands and second-placed Swede Rolf-Goran Bengtsson.

"So close but so far," Tops-Alexander said.

"Itot is in great form ... we are all here to try to win. Maybe I could have done one less stride to the last, but I am very happy."

Tops-Alexander, currently ranked eighth in the world, is the sole Australian in the world's top 10 show jumpers entering next month's London Olympics.

AAP