Mathilda Karlsson marked a historic beginning of a decade for Sri Lanka, becoming the first Lankan show jumper to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in the Equestrian sport. She received this entry upon the official FEI Rankings.
Karlsson, who is based in Germany but will be representing Sri Lanka in the competition ring, qualified for her first Olympics with her 11-year-old horse Chopin VA (Casall). Mathilda was born in Sri Lanka and adopted by a Swedish family at three months old. Recently, she was inspired to switch her nationality back to Sri Lankan and ride under the flag of her home country.
According to the qualification system, 200 slots are allocated to the sport in 3 disciplines – Show jumping, Endurance riding and Dressage. Of the 200, this year’s Olympic Games have set aside 15 individual entries chosen by the FEI Rankings.
Read – A Real Sri Lankan Story – A Long Ride to Glory
The South East Asia and Oceania region, under which Sri Lanka falls, has only 2 individual spots up for grabs. Jasmine Chao-man Chen, ranked on top of the FEI chart, took the first position, while Mathilda followed in second to take away the other spot.
“We qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020! Chopin VA, words can’t describe what an amazing horse you are to me and to all the people around you. You really mean the world to us. This has been an unbelievable journey from the beginning to the end, an exciting year with ups and downs, but we finally made it! It wouldn’t have been possible without all the support that I got from my whole team, I couldn’t have done it without you. It’s a dream come true, thank you all!” Karlsson said on one of her social media pages upon her qualification.
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