A top contender for the German eventing team at the Tokyo Olympics has been ruled out owing to injury.
Ingrid Klimke’s 2020 national eventing champion SAP Asha P suffered an injury while training, she announced today (30 April).
The 10-year-old mare by Askari 173, owned by Ingrid and Dr Andres Lauber, was one of the German star’s two Olympic eventing hopefuls; she is also qualified with her 17-year-old Rio Olympic partner SAP Hale Bob OLD.
In August last year Ingrid and SAP Asha P were second at the Strzegom Nations Cup leg in Poland, which Ingrid won on SAP Hale Bob OLD. Ingrid and the mare went on to victory at the national championships at Luhmühlen in October, and followed this up with a win in the CCI4*-L at Pratoni del Vivaro in Italy in November.
Ingrid said it would take a “while” before SAP Asha P, with whom she won the seven-year-old title at the young horse World Championships at Le Lion d’Angers in 2018, is fit again.
“This year we will have to take a break from competition. We are very sad and need patience now,” she said.
“We are all the more looking forward to being able to get started again together.”
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The blow comes just 10 days after Ingrid’s Tokyo dressage contender Franziskus was ruled out owing to injury. Ingrid and “Francis” had been part of the German Olympic dressage squad since 2019.
On 20 April she said the Tokyo dressage dream had “burst” owing to the 13-year-old Hannoverian stallion suffering an “acute injury”.
“The most important thing now is that Francis gets well again quickly,” she said.
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