[2] She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she placed 23rd in the individual competition aboard Trakehner Mister X.

[citation needed] She qualified for the 2014 Dressage World Cup Finals in Lyon, after placing 3rd in the Central European League standings.

At the final held at Lyon's expo center, Inessa finished 10th in the field of 17 competitors.

Her best World Equestrian Games results were achieved during the 2018 edition held in Tryon, NC, when she placed 19th individually and 10th in the team event.

[citation needed] In January 2020, Merkulova was put into a week-long induced coma in a hospital in Hamburg, after falling from a horse and receiving multiple chest injuries, fractures and bilateral pneumothorax.