17-Year-Old Red Gerard Wins Gold in Snowboarding Slopestyle, U.S.' First Medal of Olympics
The U.S. is finally on the board in PyeongChang, and it's thanks to a 17-year-old.
Red Gerard won gold in the snowboarding slopestyle event to give the Americans their first medal at the 2018 Winter Games. Gerard entered his third and final run in 11th place before pulling off the run of his young life, which included nailing a backside triple cork 1440.
The run earned him a score of 86.17, and after his remaining competitors couldn't equal his effort on their final runs, Gerard had won the gold.
With the win, Gerard becomes the youngest snowboarder to ever win a medal at the Olympics.
It's the second straight Olympics that an American has won the slopestyle event—Sage Kostenberg won in 2014 in Sochi, when the event made its Olympic debut.
Gerard was joined on the medal stand by two Canadians—Max Parrot took home the silver and Mark McMorris, who broke his femur after suffering a brutal fall under a year ago, took the bronze.
Gerard is from Westlake, Ohio but lives in Silvererthorne, Co. He was born on June 26, 2000.
