First US gold goes to Jacobellis – WQKT Sports Country Radio

Snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis became the first American gold medalist at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, jumping to an early lead and holding on to win the women’s snowboardcross on Wednesday.

Sixteen years after falling in the homestretch of the inaugural Olympic snowboardcross race at the 2006 Games in Torino, Jacobellis, 36, became the oldest snowboarder to medal at the Olympics and earned her second medal in five Olympics. She also became the oldest American woman to win gold at the Winter Games in any sport, a record previously held by Kikkan Randall, who won gold in cross-country skiing during the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics at age 35.

“This feels incredible because this level that all the women are riding at is a lot higher than it was 16 years ago,” Jacobellis said after the race. “So I felt like a winner just that I made it into finals, because that’s been a challenge every time. All these ladies had the potential to win, and today it just worked out for me that my starts were good, my gliding was great and everything worked for me today.”

Outside of Olympic competition, Jacobellis has been dominant throughout a career spanning nearly two decades, a consistent winner in an unpredictable sport. With 30 world cup wins, 10 X Games gold medals and six world championships, she is the greatest snowboardcross racer in the sport’s history. But at the past four Olympics, she earned a reputation for falling short when it counts.