Hickey Grabs Gold and Sammis Snags Silver

It was a fantastic week for the U.S. dressage team at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As if taking home the team gold medal wasn’t enough, two team members won the gold and silver medals  in the individual competition concluding today, July 18.

Chris Hickey topped the field of 25 individuals aboard Regent to win the gold medal today, and teammate Lauren Sammis finished right on his heels, winning the silver with Sagacious HF.  Taking home the bronze was Yvonne de Muñiz of the Dominican Republic. 

Chris Hickey entered today’s freestyle in the lead, but with only 1.4 points separating the first and fourth riders his victory was hardly assured. “Before the freestyle it was not a clear-cut contest, everything was possible,” said judge and chairwoman of the FEI Dressage Committee Mariette Withages. “It was very thrilling for the five judges who may as well have been reading a James Bond book.”

Tension in the air at the National Equestrian Center rose after the last break, as the top five riders vied for the individual gold medal. Top-seeded Hickey was last to ride and when his thumping trance music kicked in, the pair marched up centerline, exuding confidence and determination.  

“The horse is quiet by nature,” said Hickey. “When you see him handwalking, he can look like a camp horse. Meredith [Morray], who takes care of him, said today that he was a little frisky when she handwalked him. That was a great indication to me that I could get on him and ask him to rise to the occasion.”

And rise to the occasion they did. Their percussive trot music highlighted Regent’s strong trot work and difficult canter sequences including three-tempi changes on a curve. 

“The freestyle is very complicated,” explained Hickey. “When I make one little mistake, especially at the canter, which I did today, it can go down the drain very quickly, but there are places in that freestyle for me to repeat things.” After a mistake in the tempi changes, Hickey took advantage of this flexibility to sneak in an extra line of changes.

“I intended to re-ride the three-tempis,” he explained. “I came into the three-tempis between the pirouettes, and my brain was saying three-tempis and my legs did two-tempis. I did a few and then thought, ‘Oh my God, these are twos! They are supposed to be threes! It was too late to do anything about it.” 

The judges didn’t seem as concerned with Hickey’s mistake, as they awarded him the high score of the day, 72.10 percent.

After yesterday’s Intermediaire I competition, Hickey and Sammis planned to duke it out for the individual gold medal, but Sammis’ previous look of determination fell away once the silver medal hung around her neck, replaced by a huge grin. Sammis was sincerely thrilled with her second-place finish, and appeared relaxed and happy after her fluid performance which earned her 69.92 percent.

“I think that the strong point was the pirouettes, but also that he’s able to go into the arena and a strange environment and really try his best,” said Sammis. “Movements aside, his temperament is really unbeatable.”