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Ingrid Klimke and Franziskus at the Dressage World Championships in Denmark
Photo:
Friso Gentsch / dpa
The eventing world championships in Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy (September 15th to 18th) will take place without the two-time team world champion Ingrid Klimke.
After the Nations Cup in Haras du Pin/France, national coach Peter Thomsen nominated his squad, which is led by Tokyo Olympic champion Julia Krajewski with Amande de B'Neville and three-time Olympic champion Michael Jung with Chipmunk.
The team also includes ex-world champion Sandra Auffarth with Viamant du Matz and Christoph Wahler with Carjatan S. Alina Dibowski starts as an individual rider with Barbados.
The first reserves are Nicolai Aldinger with Timmo for the team and Sophie Leube with Jadore Moi if the individual rider fails.
Klimke follows her father's path
Ingrid Klimke was absent from Haras du Pin because she was part of the German dressage team at the World Championships in Herning.
Klimke recently announced that she wanted to focus more on dressage, as she told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".
She could follow a path similar to that of her father Reiner Klimke, who died in 1999 and who also switched to dressage late and won six Olympic medals.
In any case, there has been a question mark over her start at the World Championships in Italy for weeks, as she does not have a suitable successor after her show horse Hale Bob ended her career due to injury.
Her only ten-year-old mare Siena Just Do It showed nerves at the CHIO in Aachen, a big championship would probably come too early for the horse.
Klimke was team Olympic champion in eventing in Beijing in 2008 and in London in 2012, followed by silver in 2016 in Rio.
The World Championships at the famous Italian equestrian center Pratoni del Vivaro in Rocca di Papa, the Pope's summer residence near Rome, will begin on September 15th and 16th with two days of dressage.
On September 17th it will be off-road, on September 18th the medals will be awarded in jumping.
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