Jurgen Koschel is no longer training German Olympic team rider Kristina Sprehe. The 26-year old Sprehe has cited the distance between her home in Dinklage and Koschel's yard in Hagen as the reason for going separate ways after a 5-year training partnership.
Supervised by coach Jurgen Koschel, Kristina Sprehe achieved her biggest career successes so far. Aboard her father's Hanoverian licensed stallion Desperados (by De Niro x Wolkenstein II) she won the German Under 25 Championship, team silver at the 2012 Olympic Games and finished 8th individually in London. This year she won team gold and finished 5th individually at the 2013 European Championships in Herning.
Sprehe is no longer willing to do a daily commute between Dinklage and Hagen on the very busy A1 with horrendous rush hour traffic. With Kristina also managing the dressage section at Gestut Sprehe and riding several horses besides her studies, the burden of commute has become too much.
Kristina has now opted to just rely on the official training sessions by German team trainer Monica Theodorescu, who comes to the yard as part of the German FN High Performance programme.
"I regret no longer being able to train Kristina, but I can't drive to Dinklage daily either," Koschel explained. "We have a full stable here and it is little effective to train together just once or twice a week."
"We have too much to do at home to drive to the stud very often," Christoph Koschel told Eurodressage. "Only then you can guarantee the success like it was before."
Photo © Astrid Appels
Related Links
Germany's Back to Gold at the 2013 European Dressage Championships
Kristina Sprehe Takes Second Win in 2012 CDIO Aachen Grand Prix Special
Sprehe and Desperados Rise to the Top in 2012 CDIO Aachen Grand Prix
A New Star is Born: Sprehe Beats Bechtolsheimer at 2012 CDI Dortmund
Rath, Bechtolsheimer, Sprehe on Their Magical 80% Scoring Day at 2012 CDI Hagen