Mathilda Karlsson target Asian Games Medal after Tokyo mishap

Taking stock of what went wrong here at the 2020 Olympic Games, the Lankan lass who turns 37 next month said she learned a lot by participating at the Olympic Games and the immense experience she gathered here in Tokyo will be a big asset when she competes in the big league.

Karlsson said she is definitely looking forward to winning a medal at the 2022 Asian Games to be worked off in Hangzhou from September 10 to 25, 2022.

Asked whether she will be on the same horse – Chopin VA, at the Asian Games, Karlsson said it depends on the World Championship period.

“If there aren’t sufficient time periods between the events, I will opt for Chopin VA for the much more competitive World Championship and get another horse mine for the Asian Games,” she said.

“Next year is going to be a very important one, because we have the World Championships and the Asian Games. When we get home we are going to start preparing because now I have so much more experience – what to do, what I need. My horse Chopin will be one more year more experienced and me too. I don’t think he can do both,” she explained.

“He’ll probably have to do the World Championships and maybe we will see if we can get support from someone to maybe approach a different horse to do the Asian Games, because it would be great to be able to represent Sri Lanka in both, in the WAG and the Asian Games,” she added.

“I think he needs to do the World Championship, it’s going to be like this, and it’s going to be top class. Asian Games, we have a good chance to have a very good placement because it’s going to be much less demanding than this,” she pointed out. “If you can get here and do everything we have had to do to get here. My plan and my goal here was to go to the final but if I go to the Asian Games, my absolute goal will be to go for a medal, I won’t doubt for a second. I would be very disappointed if I didn’t,” she said.

“I now focus on Asian Games. That’s something we’ll go home and organise and plan and try to find a suitable horse to be competitive, someone who will be

Mathilda Karlsson sharing her Olympic experience

advantageous under Asian conditions. I don’t need that kind of quality and scope that I need here. Then maybe I need a faster horse that will go and win it,” she explained her strategy.

“If I had competed at Asian Games and progressed up the ladder for the Olympics, it would have been a different story. Here it was a big deal. This was my first championship; I went straight to the Olympics. Nevertheless, it was a very good experience. I now have learnt many things,” she said, adding that they relied on the right horse for a big event like this.

“Jumping on a track like this, you definitely need a horse like I have. It was just really unlikely, and I would say, maybe a little bit of a lack of experience as well which we will now have for the future. I would definitely do something different. Our road was a little different, because I was on the Olympics and then the points are taken back,” she said

“Mentally that is kind of hard to cope with when you don’t know if you’re going to go or not. My horse never doubted it would go to the Olympics. It’s a good thing he never knew. It’s fantastic to be in the Olympic Games, this is something I will remember for the rest of my life. With that experience, I will definitely get a medal at next year Asian Games,” she concluded.