The 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang officially opened four days ago and already American’s have taken gold in every snowboard competition so far.
Red Gerard and Jamie Anderson took gold in Slopestyle and last night (February 12, 2018) Chloe Kim monster stomped her way to gold in the women’s halfpipe. Not to put a jinx on it, but we’re pretty certain an American will win tonight in the mens’ halfpipe as well, but we’re going to have to wait for the judges to weigh in on that one when the action kicks off this afternoon at 5:30 PM PST.
For a collection of official press releases (to which we added absolutely nothing) please follow the jump.
Chloe Kim Grabs Gold
Chloe Kim (Torrance, Calif.) made her long-awaited Olympic halfpipe debut and rode away with a gold medal.
On her first run of the three-run final, Kim opened up with a 93.75 to take the lead over China’s Jiayu Lui, who scored an 89.75 on her second run to give her silver. On her third-run victory lap, Kim nailed back-to-back 1080s – the first in Olympic history – to score a 98.25.
Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) nailed her final run to take the bronze medal with a score of 85.75, bumping three-time Olympic medalist Kelly Clark (Mt. Snow, Vt.) into fourth with a score of 83.50.
With the gold medal in her pocket, Kim still wanted more out of her third and final run. “I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied taking the gold and knowing that I hadn’t put down my best,” she said. “That third run was for me – to put down the best run I could do.”
Kim, whose Korean roots had made her a national sport hero, was visibly moved by the accomplishment. “Standing on the podium was insane – just realizing how far I’ve come as a person and an athlete,” she said.
Gold battled relentlessly all day – landing her runs and improving each time. “Coming in I knew I was going to need to land that run to be on the podium,” she said. “I was committed to it all three runs. I felt pretty relaxed going into the third run. I knew I could let loose and do everything I could.”
Her medal came with irony as it was earned at the expense of her mentor, Clark. “It was a bittersweet position to be in knowing it was between Kelly (Clark) and I for the bronze medal,” said Gold. “She’s someone I’ve looked up to ever since I started snowboarding – even more so when I got to spend time with her over the years and have gotten to know the kind of person she is. She’s been a huge support system for me emotionally when things get challenging and I’m grateful to have her here for this experience.”
Maddie Mastro (Wrightwood, Calif.), who finished 12th after sliding out on all three of her runs going for a 1080, a trick she pulled off for the first time in competition at last month’s X Games, echoed Gold.
“Kelly Clark has been an amazing inspiration to the whole sport of women’s snowboarding and it’s incredible how much she has pushed to progress the sport,” said Mastro. “The longevity of her career is another thing to look up to and be inspired by. We all respect her a lot.”
Clark put herself squarely into the medal hunt but fell just short in the end. “All the ladies are riding at a very high level today,” she said. “That last run was definitely my best run of the day. So much of the time the Olympics can be something that you can survive and just make it through. Today I was calling the shots and was in the driver’s seat. I enjoyed myself, managed myself well and rode well. I think it’s so easy to measure success by winning a medal, but for me this was an extremely successful day in the midst of it.”
The Olympic champion and three-time medalist reflected back on the impact of her career and its legacy. “Not many athletes get to stick around long enough to see what their legacy will look like,” she said. “This U.S. women’s team is an incredible group of talented young women and I’m so proud of them. I think my Olympic career could end today, but theirs is just getting started.”
Team USA women’s halfpipe riders have earned double-podium finishes in each of the last four Olympic Winter Games and have claimed 10 of the 18 medals awarded since the event made its debut at the Olympic Winter Games Nagano 1998. Kim’s gold marked the 99th Team USA gold medal in Olympic Winter Games history and was the 99th medal won by ski and snowboard athletes since the Winter Games began in 1924.
RESULTS
Women’s halfpipe
Chloe Kim Winning Run Trick List
Method
Front 10
Cab 10
Front 9
McTwist
Crippler 7
Anderson Defends Slopestyle Gold
Jamie Anderson (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.), who won the slopestyle snowboarding gold medal in the sport’s Olympic debut at the 2014 Games, battled challenging weather conditions and a stacked field to win gold again Monday at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
Blustery conditions caused a delayed start to the event and stymied most of the riders once competition began. Anderson dug deep into her competitive bag of experience and nailed a clean run on her first trip down the Phoenix Snow Park course to score 83.00. She then watched as the field was confounded by the windy conditions.
“I realized coming into this year that it was a lot of pressure to defend the title especially with the level of riding escalating at a crazy rate,” Anderson said. “Deep down I knew I could do it. But there were so many variables. When I landed my run, and later knew I had won, I could barely comprehend the emotions.”
Clean performances were the exception rather than the rule during second runs. The closest anyone could come to challenging Anderson was Laurie Bloun of Canada, whose 76.33 landed her the silver medal. Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi, the silver medalist in Sochi, took the bronze medal with a 75.38.
Jessica Jenson (Rigby, Idaho) was fifth, while Hailey Langland (San Clemente, Calif.) was sixth with one of the few clean second runs. Julia Marino (Westport, Conn.) finished 11th.
Anderson’s win, combined with 2014 Olympic champion Sage Kotsenburg, and 2018 men’s gold medalist Red Gerard, means Team USA has won all four Olympic slopestyle events.
Red Gerard Takes Slopestyle Gold
Red Gerard (Silverthorne, Colo.) stomped the run of his life to win Team USA’s first gold medal of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games Sunday in slopestyle snowboarding.
“I’m just insanely excited right now,” said Gerard, who is the youngest Olympic snowboarding gold medalist ever. “I can’t believe it all worked out. I just wanted to land a run. After falling on my second run, I was really excited for the third run.”
Sitting well out of medal contention after crashing out on his first two of three runs, Gerard absolutely nailed his third run with a score of 87.16 and withstood a stout challenge from Canada’s Max Parrot, whose third and final run score of 86.00 was good enough for silver. Parrot’s teammate, Mark McMorris, tallied an 85.20 on his second run for his second consecutive Olympic bronze medal.
“When that score came up my jaw dropped,” Gerard said. “I was like ‘this isn’t real’. I would have been happy to just land a run, but to land a run and win, it’s crazy.”
Gerard’s gold medal was the second consecutive Olympic slopestyle snowboarding gold for Team USA, dating back to the 2014 Games when Sage Kotsenburg won.
