The United States is finally on the board in the gold column at the Beijing Games. On Wednesday, snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis became the first American athlete to secure a gold medal when she won the women’s snowboardcross event.
In doing so, Jacobellis, 36, became the oldest snowboarder to medal at the Olympics while also earning her second medal in five Olympics. In addition, Jacobellis became the oldest American woman to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in any sport. Prior to this win, cross-country skier Kikkan Randall had held the record after winning a gold medal at 35 at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang
“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 following her win, according to ESPN. “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.”
On Wednesday, Jacobellis got out to an early lead over France’s Chloe Trespeuch in the snowboardcross race and never lost that advantage.
It was a chance at redemption for Jacobellis in terms of the snowboardcross event. During the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Jacobellis was approaching the finish line and a potential gold medal when she fell. Jacobellis ended up having to settle for a silver medal in those Olympics. At the following three Winter Games since that fall, Jacobellis had also came up short over of gold.
Still, winning is nothing new for Jacobellis. In her career, she has 30 world cup victories, 10 X Games gold medals and six world championships.
