President of the Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) Avril Doyle flew to Germany this week to try to persuade Jessica Kürten to return to the Irish showjumping team for the Aachen Super League round at the end of the month.
However, Ms Doyle failed in her mission to change Kürten's mind, The Irish Times has learned. Ms Doyle would not confirm yesterday that she had met the show jumper. "I have never talked about any issues that have been discussed with the riders and I'm not going to start now," she said.
Jessica Kürten has said she will not jump on a team with Cian O'Connor, who was stripped of his Olympic gold medal after his horse Waterford Crystal tested positive for two prohibited substances.
She has been joined in her stance by Harry Marshall, controversially dropped from last Friday's Aga Khan Cup team amid allegations that O'Connor interfered with the selection process. O'Connor denies the allegations.
The attempt to bring Kürten back into the fold came on the eve of the close of entries for the German fixture.
The team has now been confirmed as Cian O'Connor, Billy Twomey, Shane Breen, Capt Shane Carey and Marie Burke.
However, it is expected that Kürten will be offered a personal invitation by the show directors to compete at the six-day show.
"I would say Jessica has a very good chance of getting a personal invitation because she's number 11 in the world," EFI secretary general Dan Butler said yesterday.
Kürten, who is competing at the Dutch five-star show in Valkenswaard this week, was not available for comment when contacted yesterday.