Ingrid Klimke and Sandra Auffarth not in the 2026 eventing squad

Nine riders with a total of 13 horses are listed in the 2026 eventing squad. Olympic champion Michael Jung (Chipmunk, Solution II), Julia Krajewski (Nickel), Christoph Wahler (D’Accord) and Calvin Böckmann (Altair de la Cense, The Phantom of the Opera) competed at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Jérôme Robiné (Black Ice), Malin Hotopp-Hansen (Quidditch K) and Libussa Lübbecke (Caramia) won the team gold medal together with “Michi” Jung at the European Championships in Blenheim 2025. These golden Buschis are complemented in the Olympic squad by Nicolai Aldinger (Timmo, Palm Beach) and Arne Bergendahl, who made it into the top German squad with two horses bred by his father Helmut, 14-year-old Luthien and her son Bronco by Blockbuster, 10.

Six Germans in the top 50 of the world rankings at the end of the year

In the current world rankings (as of December 3, 2025 ), Michael Jung is the best German in ninth place and the only one from good old Germany to be in the top ten. Calvin Böckmann (21st), Malin Hotopp-Hansen (24th) and Jérôme Robiné (37th) as well as Julia Krajewski (40th) and Arne Bergednahl (41st) make it into the top 50.

Where are Ingrid Klimke and Sandra Auffarth in the 2026 eventing squad?

Ingrid Klimke, European Team Dressage Champion 2025 with Vayron, has several young horses. She has ridden the Belgian mare Kallista and the Hanoverian mare Candy at 2* and 3* level and has also competed in 4* short tests. Klimke’s last “long competition” dates back to 2024. With her currently most experienced horse, Siena just do it, she was fourth in the indoor eventing at the Stuttgart German Masters 2025.

For Sandra Auffarth, team Olympic champion and individual world champion in 2014, the case is clear: she has not competed at an eventing tournament since August 2024. After the CCIO4*-S in Aachen, she has at least taken a break in this discipline and is concentrating on show jumping. With her top horse Quirici, she was part of the German team that finished fourth in the Nations Cup Final of the League of Nations in Barcelona.

Glorious seven in the perspective squad

The perspective squads, the second-highest category after the Olympic squad, are divided up. The “Perspective squad success-oriented” lists Antonia Baumgart (Ris de Talm), Vanessa Bölting (Ready to go), Felix Etzel (Polartanz), Heike Jahnke (Mighty Spring, Quibelle OLD), Ben Leuwer (Hanami), Katharina Meyer (Aspen T, Chapeau Claque) and Brandon Schäfer-Gehrau (Very Special). Seven riders are listed in the third of the 2026 eventing squads under the heading “perspective”: Ann-Catrin Bierlein (Sir Scotty, Diacondiva), Nicholas Goldbeck (Chintano), Carla Hansen (Castagnola), Jana Lehmkuhl (Lanzelot), Konstantin Harting (Caspara, Botswana), Isabella von Roeder (Bob) and Greta Laetizia Tidow (Checkpoint).

All squads, including junior riders at the FN