Team USA enjoyed a superb opening day of Para Dressage action at the 2024 Paris Paralympics with two golds and a silver in the first three Individual medal events at the Château de Versailles.

Rebecca Hart on Floratina (Grade III) and Fiona Howard with Diamond Dunes (Grade II) both struck gold before Roxanne Trunnell, a double gold medalist from Tokyo 2020, took silver on Fan Tastico H in Grade I behind Latvia’s Rihards Snikus and King Of the Dance.

This trio of medals at Paris 2024 marked Team USA’s most successful Paralympic Games in Para Dressage, after just three of 11 events across four days of competition.

They surpassed the two golds and a bronze won at Atlanta 1996 and at Tokyo 2020, where Trunnell and her mount Dolton won the first two individual golds for the U.S. after 24 years. The pair also won team bronze alongside Hart on El Corona Texel and Kate Shoemaker with Solitaer 40.

Hart Strikes Gold on Fifth Paralympic Attempt

Hart, 39, kick started today’s gold rush by winning her first individual medal at her fifth Paralympic Games with Floratina, having previously finished fourth in Beijing and fifth at London 2012.

“It’s been 25 years of trying to get to this point and being close many, many times,” she said. “To actually get it, I feel like I’m going to wake up at any moment. It’s just surreal. It feels like a dream.”

Hart and Floratina were the penultimate combination to enter the arena in the morning rain. They claimed the win with a score of 77.900%.

“This is my first gold ever. We’ve worked so hard as a country with my fellow athletes to really develop our program and step up our game. Four years later, here we are,” Hart said. “It’s a huge venue and the entire atmosphere was phenomenal. I was just trying to stay with Floratina and remain focused, because it felt so easy. I just needed to stay on my game and get the test done.” 

The Netherlands’ Rixt van der Horst took silver with 76.433%—marking her sixth Paralympic medal overall at her third Games—on new horse Royal Fonq, who’s been her partner since December.

“He’s really special,” she said. “He has such a kind and honest character. His quality is amazing. I think we click really well and have developed a special bond in the short time we’ve had together.”

In her first Paralympic Games since becoming a mother to her son Joshua last year, Great Britain’s Natasha Baker and Dawn Chorus, took bronze with 73.167%. This was her ninth Paralympic medal after six golds and two silvers.

“I had 20 months out of competition when I had Joshua, and a year out of the saddle,” the 34-year-old said. “That’s the longest I’ve ever had out of the saddle. I’m just super, super happy with her.”

Diamond Dunes is Forever Gold for Howard

Howard, 25, maintained the U.S.’s momentum as she took Grade II gold on Diamond Dunes in her debut Paralympic Games with a superb performance to finish on 76.931%.

“We’ve only been partners since March when we did our first competition,” she said. “I just trusted him and he gave me everything in there. I am so proud of him. He’s never let me down.”

Denmark’s Katrine Kristensen, who also became a first-time mother last year after winning double gold at the FEI World Championship in 2022, took silver on Goerklintgaards Quater with a score of 73.966%.

“I was crying a lot because this is so huge. After becoming a mom, I worked very hard to regain my physical strength and to balance being a mom and training at this level. But I succeeded,” Kristensen said. “I’ve never ridden in such a beautiful arena before with such an audience. I promised myself when I finished I would  just look up and enjoy it and I did.”

With a score of  73.414%, Great Britain’s Georgia Wilson on Sakura added another Paralympic individual bronze to her collection after two at Tokyo 2020. This edged Germany’s 69-year-old Heidemarie Dresing—the oldest athlete competing at Versailles—into fourth place on Dooloop.

No Limits for DJ Snikus

The final event of the opening day saw an emotional triumph for Snikus in his fourth Paralympic Games, going one better than Tokyo 2020 to take gold in Grade I. The 36-year-old, who won silver in both the Individual and Freestyle events in Tokyo, turned in a brilliant display aboard King of the Dance to triumph with a score of 79.167%.

“It was a really beautiful performance. We enjoyed watching it,” said Latvia’s Chef d’Equipe Darja Tikhomirova, speaking on behalf of Snikus, who is also the reigning Grade I world champion and an active DJ in his spare time. “I think it was one of Rihards’ best ever performances. After Tokyo, we came home and said, ‘OK, next time let’s get gold.’”

“It’s great for para sports in general in Latvia because people can see it’s not only classic sports we know like athletics or cycling,” Tikhomirova added. “Equestrian is also a sport for people with disabilities, where they can demonstrate how strong they are, how perfect they can ride and how wonderfully technical they can be. It’s always great to show that you have no limits.”

America’s Trunnell, the double individual gold medalist from Tokyo, settled for silver on Fan Tastico H after finishing on 78.000%. She paid tribute to the influence of U.S. Paralympic Equestrian Team Chef d’Equipe Michel Assouline on Team USA’s success. Assouline spent 12 years as head coach of Great Britain’s para equestrian team before joining the U.S. team in 2017 as head of para equestrian coach development and high performance consultant.

“He is really good,” Trunnell said. “He got us all straightened up, training harder, with better horses. We have evolved our training and have been working so hard. It’s nice to see it pay off.” 

Italy’s Sara Morganti on Mariebelle collected her third Paralympic Games bronze medal—after two in Tokyo—on a score of 74.625%.

About the 2024 Paralympic Equestrian Competition

Established stars will seek to hold off talented emerging athletes as the 2024 Paris Para Dressage competition continues at the spectacular Château de Versailles. A total of 76 athletes from 30 nations will assemble for four days of competition spread across five days from today, September 3 through Saturday, September 7.

The first two days include Individual Medal Events in all five Grades. Grade III opened proceedings today and will also be the last of the five Individual Freestyle Events—featuring the top eight combinations—on the final day of action.

Unfortunately, Denmark’s Tobias Thorning Joergensen won’t be defending the two Individual titles he won on his Paralympic Games debut at Tokyo 2020, withdrawing on Sunday after his horse Jolene Hill was deemed not fit to compete.

The 24-year-old was widely viewed as the favorite in Grade III after striking a double gold victory at the FEI World Championship in 2022 on home ground in Herning, Denmark—plus, a silver in the team event—and two more individual golds at last year’s FEI Para Dressage European Championship in Riesenbeck, Germany.

All horses that were presented on Monday’s First Horse Inspection passed. 

For more of our coverage of the 2024 Paris Paralympic games, click here.