Hannes Ahlmann wins first qualification for Springpokal
At the weekend, the first qualifying competition for the U25 Jumping Cup also took place as part of the Horses and Dreams tournament at the Kasselmann family's facility.
"Germany's U25 Jumping Cup" is funded by the Müter family.
The series' website says: "Germany's U25 Jumping Cup is made possible financially by the German Top Horse Sport Foundation and the Müter family, Elmgestüt Drei Eichen in Königslutter. Created on the initiative of Otto Becker and Heinrich-Hermann Engemann, the show jumping cup gives show jumpers up to 25 years of age the opportunity to gain further experience in top sport at top shows. Class S** and S*** competitions are ridden. The show jumping series is accompanied by a number of support measures. For example, the national trainers will be on hand to support the participants during the tournaments. The best riders will be invited to a training course with Heinrich-Hermann Engemann. The icing on the cake: A Nations Cup team will be put together from the finalists, who will be allowed to represent the German colors abroad."
At the end of the qualification, the young man from the far north of Germany stood right at the front. "I couldn't have imagined it any nicer today," explained the current German Young Rider Champion. His stallion Nerrado and the 20-year-old have been a well-rehearsed team for several years. In Hagen he had two horses with him. In addition to Nerrado, he also had the gray mare Caracas. Initially, one could assume that Ahlmann would choose the mare for the final test, after it did not want to harmonize so right on the first two days with Nerrado.
"Unfortunately, the last two weeks with Nerrado and me it didn't go quite as I had imagined. That's why I actually wanted to ride Caracas today, but decided to ride Nerrado after all, so I'm particularly proud that it worked out," Ahlmann said. Already after a great round in the rotation, he was able to take the lead of the field with a brilliant round. In the end, the clock stopped at 36.83 seconds.
Ahlmann is no stranger to the German U25 sport. Already as a junior and young rider, the young man from Reher was able to take home so many medals. Currently, his main focus is on the upcoming European Championships. "The European Championships are a big goal of mine. Nerrado has a two-week break after Hagen before we compete in May at the Prize of the Best, the qualifier for the European Championships."
He receives a lot of support, especially from his family and Professor Dr. Bernd Heike from Hassloch.
Ahlmann and Heicke are no strangers to each other. For several years now, the Ahlmann family has been riding the stallions of the Fohlenhof stud, which lists Bernd Heicke as its owner.
In early 2021, Heicke then also officially took over a sponsorship for Hannes Ahlmann as part of the U25 jumping sponsorship. This makes German champions very happy, of course.
Second place went to Marvin Carl Haarmann and his mare Labonita OLD. In third place found the Saarland-based Niklas Betz with his successful horse Contan.
However, Ahlmann's victory does not mean that he is now safely qualified for the Final in Aachen, as the mode was changed after the 2019 season. The athletes collect points in each qualification and the five best in points of each weekend solve their ticket to the final. Unfortunately, things did not go so well for Hannes and Nerrado in the competitions on Friday and Saturday, which is why they were not able to collect enough points. However, Marvin Carl Haarmann and Niklas Betz collected enough points and qualified for the final at the Aachen Soers.
The next qualification will take place next weekend at the Maimarkt tournament in Mannheim.
