Olympics-bound event rider lands milestone career win – in a different horse sport

Olympics-bound event rider Sandra Auffarth showed the depth of her talents to land a major victory in a second discipline – less than two weeks before she heads to Paris 2024.

The 2014 eventing world champion won the CSIO5* 1.60m Agria Falsterbo grand prix on Sunday (14 July) with the 13-year-old Hannoverian gelding Quirici H.

The pair jumped one of just four clears in the first round from 42 starters, from which 11 went through to the jump-off.

“I thought it would be a round to gain experience at this height, and then he jumped super and was super focused!” said Sandra, who owns the horse with Evelyn and Michael Viehof.

Sandra Auffarth and Quirici H.

Cian O’Connor was second with the exciting nine-year-old stallion Fancy De Kergane, with whom he helped Ireland to Aachen Nations Cup victory this month. Belgium’s Abdel Saïd was third with Kapitol D’Argonne mare Figueras De Laume.

Sandra has been competing Quirici H in pure showjumping since 2021, and this was the by far the biggest showjumping career win for horse and rider.

Sandra is named on the German Olympic eventing team with Nikolaus Prinz von Croy’s 15-year-old Viamant Du Matz, who has been her ride at every senior championships since 2019. The partnership were part of the gold medal-winning side at the 2022 World Championships, and took home two medals from the 2023 Europeans – team silver and individual bronze.

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Lucy Elder

H&H senior news writer

Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.