American Seth Wescott defended his gold medal in the men’s snowboardcross Monday evening, rallying from behind to defeat Canada’s Mike Robertson and give the U.S. its second gold of the Winter Olympics.
Robertson appeared to be running away with the win, but Wescott, who resides in Carrabassett Valley, Maine, came out of nowhere to catch him after perfectly executing a series of five jumps about two-thirds of the way down the course.
Wescott, 33, fell behind early in the race after a wreck by fellow American Nate Holland knocked him back to third. Holland finished fourth (of four) and France’s Tony Ramoin won the bronze.
Wescott was in danger of missing the field of 32 riders after he caught an edge and spun out in his first qualifying run, but he ultimately qualified 17th with a good but not great second run. He then managed to avoid any and all carnage in his first three races to advance to the finals — in snowboardcross, each race consists of four boarders, with the top two advancing to the next round.
Other top riders were not so fortunate. Top qualifier Alex Pullin of Australia wiped out in his first race. This year’s top-ranked rider in the World Cup, France’s Pierre Vaultier, got tangled up with another rider and went down in the quarterfinals. Defending World Cup champion Markus Schairer of Austria also made an early exit after eating snow.
American Graham Watanabe, who qualified second, got edged out in a photo finish during his first heat and teammate Nick Baumgartner careened off the course and into the protective netting his first time down.
