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At last, Team USA has its first gold medal of the 2022 Olympics – with a fitting recipient.
Lindsey Jacobellis claimed an elusive gold medal Wednesday in the women’s snowboard cross, 16 years after a costly error late in the race cost her the top spot in Torino.
The 36-year-old from Danbury, Conn., led from start to finish in Wednesday’s final run to add the missing piece to her decorated snowboarding career. It also marked the first gold for Team USA in the Beijing Olympics, after picking up five silver medals and one bronze heading into the snowboard cross.
Before Wednesday, Jacobellis had come closest to Olympic gold in 2006. She had a big lead in the final that year, but on the penultimate jump, she infamously tried to add a celebratory grab, only to fall. It cost her, as her stumble allowed another snowboarder to catch up and pass her, with Jacobellis settling for silver.
Jacobellis later finished fifth in 2010, seventh in 2014 and fourth in 2018, just barely missing the podium in Pyeongchang by three-hundredths of a second.
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The five-time snowboard cross world champion became the oldest Olympic medalist in any snowboarding event. France’s Chloe Trespeuch won the silver medal, and Meryeta O’Dine of Canada captured bronze.
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