Team USA's Jamie Anderson successfully defended her gold medal in women's snowboard slopestyle on Sunday in Pyeongchang. The 27-year-old native of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., won four years ago in the debut of the event in Sochi, and she doubled down on Sunday in South Korea.
Anderson put together a tremendous run to close out the first round, scoring an outstanding 83.00 in her initial trip down the slope and jumping to the top of the standings. She was lights out in the rails section, then went 540 on her second-to-last hit before closing out with a 720 off the last jump.
That impressive run helped Anderson make a little bit of Olympic history, as she became the first woman to win multiple Olympic gold medals in snowboarding.
CONGRATS TO THE 2X OLYMPIC #SNOWBOARD SLOPESTYLE CHAMP, @JamieAsnow!! #GOLD #GoTeamUSA pic.twitter.com/0Un032WdoA
— U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) February 12, 2018
BACK-TO-BACK! @jamieasnow wins #GOLD in #snowboard slopestyle with an impressive 83-point run at the 2018 #WinterOlympics! pic.twitter.com/RpO0584O5Y
— U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) February 12, 2018
The event was delayed for over an hour thanks to some harsh winds, and the elements seemed to affect the riders a bit throughout the competition.
After Anderson's impressive run to finish out the first round, a majority of the riders had a tough time being aggressive on the course due to the bursts of aggressive wind gusts. A number of competitors took spills or bailed on their attempts, helping Anderson hold onto that top spot.
Some female snowboarders are livid that the slopestyle contest is being run today. “It’s a shitshow,” said Dutch rider Cheryl Maas. Nearly all of the women in the field have crashed on account of the exceedingly windy conditions.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 12, 2018
Finishing behind Anderson was Laurie Blouin of Canada and Finland's Enni Rukajarvi, earning silver and bronze, respectively.
Anderson's teammates Jessika Jenson and 17-year-old Hailey Langland finished just outside of the top three.
|
Country
|
|
|
|
TOTAL
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
14 | 14 | 11 | 39 |
|
14 | 10 | 7 | 31 |
|
11 | 8 | 10 | 29 |
|
9 | 8 | 6 | 23 |
|
8 | 6 | 6 | 20 |
|
7 | 6 | 1 | 14 |
|
5 | 8 | 4 | 17 |
|
5 | 6 | 4 | 15 |
|
5 | 4 | 6 | 15 |
|
5 | 3 | 6 | 14 |
|
4 | 5 | 4 | 13 |
|
3 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
|
2 | 6 | 9 | 17 |
|
2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
|
2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
|
1 | 6 | 2 | 9 |
|
1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
|
1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
|
1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
|
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
|
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
