Mickel Schmartz - Age: 21
World Championships: 3
Mickels has been playing MGA since she could first ride, having competed in her first lead rein class at the age of three.
She first rode for the Luxembourg national team in 2000 and went on to compete in 3 World Team Championships before taking a break at the end of the 2003 season.
She is now making her comeback six years later. She has won several Luxembourg individual and pairs titles in the junior classes and in 2003 won the German Pairs Championships together with her sister, Valy.
Away from the games she is an experienced endurance rider and is currently studying German at the university of Luxembourg.
Valy Schmartz - Age: 24
World Championships 5
Valy has been riding for longer than she can walk. She made her debut for the Luxembourg national team in 1997 and subsequently competed in 4 World Team Championships in a row starting in 1999 before taking a break from the sport.
She made her comeback last year for the Worlds in Belgium and is now adding to her tally in Australia.
In 1998 she was part of the winning Luxembourg team at the Canadian Indoor Championships and this was followed up with victory in the World Team Championships B final in 1999 and victory at the US Open in Kentucky in 2000.
In 1999 she was also Luxembourg individual Champion and together with her sister Mickels she won the German Pairs Championships in 2003.
When she is not riding games Valy is an accomplished endurance rider and is currently a law student at the university of Luxembourg.
Quentin Voeltzel - Age: 24
World Championships: 5
Quentin is actually French and is riding for Luxembourg at these World Championships as a guest rider. He has been riding for almost 22 years and as a member of the French national team he has already competed in 5 World Team Championships between 1999 and 2004, finishing 2nd in 2003 in Kentucky. In 2008 in his third appearance in the final he came second in the World Individual Championships. He has also been a World Pairs finalist and in 2008 won the French Pairs Championships.
Apart from games he is a successful cross country rider and has twice finished on the podium at the French Championships.
Bettina Pratt - Age: 38
World Championships (Rider): 13
World Championships (Trainer): 1
Bettina Pratt is one of the most well known names in our sport. She holds just about every appearance record in the book having competed in 53 international competitions to date including a record 13 World Team Championships. Her first competition was in 1987 and her first World Championships were in Northern Ireland in 1989. In addition she was trainer of the Luxembourg team in 2002. She has been a Luxembourg Pairs champion 7 times and was the individual champion in 1998. In 1998 she won the Canadian Indoor Championships with the Luxembourg team in Toronto and this was followed by victory in 1999 at the World Team Championships B final and in 2000 at the US Open in Kentucky.
Professionally Bettina is a freelance equitherapist which generally means she has plenty of work at Mounted Competitions but she would like to stress that she is off duty!
Bettina is only riding at these world championships because she messed up the final race of last year’s Worlds and didn’t want that to be her final memory of international competition!
Jens Martin - Age: 33
World Championships (Rider): 8
World Championships (Trainer): 5
Jens started to play games at the age of 12 and first represented Luxembourg in international competition in 1992. He has gone on to ride for Luxembourg 47 times including 8 World Team Championships.
These figures would have been even higher but in 2000 he took a 5 year break from the Luxembourg team to be trainer of the Norwegian national team guiding them from their very first ever competition through 5 World Team Championships up until the 2005 season.
The highlight during this time was a victory at the Horse of the Year Show in New Zealand in 2004. After his Norwegian experience he returned to the Luxembourg team as a rider and is now riding in his 9th Worlds. He has been Luxembourg individual champion 6 times, and pairs champion 9 times.
Together with the Luxembourg team he was winner in 1998 at the Canadian Indoor Championships, in 1999 in the World Team Championships B Final and in 2000 at the US Open in Kentucky.
In addition to riding and training, Jens has also been a member of the IMGA committee as officer for finance and administration since 2003 and has been the chairman of the rules committee since 2005. Away from the sport he works in investment banking as a freelance financial analyst and consultant.
Jens is famous for having retired from the sport at the end of every season for the past 8 years but this will absolutely 100% be his last Worlds (??)
Annie Katrup (Trainer) - Age: 20
World Championships (Rider): 2
World Championships (Trainer): 1
Annie started riding at the age of 8 and was introduced to the games when she was 16. In 2005 and 2006 she rode for the Danish national team at the World Team Championships but in 2007 she took up the challenge as trainer of the Luxembourg national team. Now living in Luxembourg she has agreed to take on the daunting task of training this aging team once more. In 2006 she was Danish Pairs Champion and has also ridden in many more international competitions around Europe including the World Individuals and World Pairs in 2005 and 2006. Away from MGA, Annie is a student who will be attending medical school in Denmark in the new year.
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So, with a combined age of 140 and experience of 40 World Team Championships over a 19 year period, I think we can safely say that this is the most experienced team ever assembled by any nation for a World Championships.