Alisa Glinka Not to Compete at 2023 World Cup Finals due to Visa Issue

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2023 World Cup Finals

Alisa Glinka, the Moldovan rider who qualified for the 2023 World Cup Finals through the Central European League, will not be competing in Omaha (USA) this week.

Alisa Glinka

The 35-year old Glinka rides for Moldova but according to the FEI database has dual citizenship. Russian and Moldovan. In the past she commuted between Moscow (RUS) and the south of France, but most recently has been seemingly working out of France.

She made her international show debut in 2016 at small tour level on Bel Forrest. She premiered her current number one, the 12-year old Oldenburg gelding Aachen (by Ampere x Sunny Boy), at small tour level in 2019 and moved him up to Grand Prix in April 2021 at the CDI-W Minsk (BLR). The pair competed at the 2002 World Cup Finals in Leipzig and at the 2022 World Championships in Herning. Alisa qualified Aachen for the 2023 World Cup Finals by winning the 2022 CDI-W qualifiers in Olomouc, Lipica, and Samorin. She placed second in Brno.

The FEI database shows that Aachen's ownership in 2018 was in name of Glinka, but flagged as Russian. This changed to Moldovan on 7 March 2022 right after the FEI banned all Russian athletes and horses from competition due to the War in Ukraine.

VISA issues

Glinka and Aachen at the 2022 World Championships

In order to travel to the U.S.A Glinka needed to get her VISA in order and went for an interview with the U.S. embassy, but the bureaucratic process ground to a halt there, making it impossible for her to compete in the World Cup Finals.

Glinka told Eurodressage, "I could not convince the American embassy in Chisinau of the urgency of my trip. They did not listen to us, no one was interested in seeing our invitations, letters from the Olympic Committee, letters from the federation."

On Instagram, Glinka stated "I earned my qualifications, successfully winning three stages, and the most difficult thing, it turned out to be banal not to get a visa on time. I'm very disappointed. Aachen is in great shape, we were ready for everything 100%."

With no Pacific League contender due to vaccination issues and Glinka dropping out last minute, the total amount of riders is now 16 instead of the normal 18.

A replacement from the Central European League could not be called up on time to fill Glinka's spot. This would have been Dina Ellermann (EST).