HORSE Sport Ireland Dressage High Performance Director Johann Hinnemann has named a team of three athletes for the 2021 European Dressage Championships which take place from September 7th to 12th in Hagen, Germany. The team will be as follows: Alex Baker with Dutchman, Carolyn Mellor with Gouverneur M and Anna Merveldt with Esporim.

Twenty-five-year-old Alex Baker and Dutchman competed at Young Rider level and entered the senior ranks last year. Most recently, they scored a top-six finish when scoring 68.234% in the Grand Prix Special at the 2021 Hartpury CDI3*.

Carolyn Mellor moved from the Horse Sport Ireland Dressage Development squad to the High-Performance squad in February 2021 and shortly after made her big tour international debut for Ireland at the three-star international dressage show in Wellington, England which was a British Olympic trial event. Carolyn and Gouverneur M scored a top-10 placing in the very competitive Grand Prix Kür (Freestyle to Music) with 68.325%.

Experienced partnership

The final team member, Anna Merveldt has a wealth of experience having represented her country at two Olympics, seven European Championships and three World Equestrian Games. Hagen will be Anna and Esporim’s second European Championships, they helped Ireland to secure a seventh-place finish at the European Championships in 2019.

Speaking ahead of the Championships, Johann said: “I am very happy to send a team of three athletes to the European Dressage Championships. This will be a great experience and learning curve for Carolyn Mellor and Alex Baker, which will stand to them in the future and combined with Anna Merveldt’s experience, I hope that we can achieve a good result for Ireland.”

Ireland’s Sorrell Klatzko will also be competing in Hagen in the CDI3* with Turbo.