Team USA wins gold at Olympic SBX mixed-team premiere
Feb 12, 2022·Snowboard Cross
On a snowy day here at the Genting Snowpark for the Olympic premiere of the snowboard cross mixed-team event, it was 15 teams at the start to battle it out for the very first Olympic medals in this event.
Throughout the entire competition the place to receive the best vibes was the finish, as that’s were the male athletes were waiting for the women to fight for the top spots and let us tell you, they were excited, stressed out and emotional at the same time.
For the big final, it was two times Team Italy, Team Canada and Team USA in the start gates. One team Italy consisted of Michela Moioli and brand new Olympic bronze medallist Omar Visintin, the second Italian team were Caterina Carpano and Lorenzo Sommariva, Team USA consisted of the brand-new Olympic champion Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner and Team Canada with Olympic silver medallist Eliot Grondin and bronze medallist Meryeta Odine.
It was the men’s turn first, who got out of the start gate, just in any individual competition. Eliot Grondin was as fast as a rocket and got into top spot and over the start section in a perfect way, just as he had done it at the men’s SBX competition. Grondin then was pretty far ahead of the rest of the heat with a great margin.
Sommariva and Baumgartner were sitting head-to-head and fighting for the second spot and Visintin in fourth, who was able to get into the draft of the athletes ahead of him and then caught up with them, because he got back some speed and took the opportunity to make a backside pass on his team mate on the inside line of the upcoming turn.
Meanwhile, 40-year-old Baumgartner managed to pass 20 years younger Grondin with an incredible move, after a jump, where he obviously won enough speed to get passed the young Canadian and get into the lead of the heat.
The young Canadian tried to fight back and to overtake the American veteran on another upcoming bank turn, but Baumgartner with all of his experience closed the door on Grondin and didn’t leave him a chance to pass. That way, the men crossed the finish line with Baumgartner first, Grondin second, Visintin third and Sommariva fourth.
Then, it was time for the women to have the final heat of the day and to get the decision done who would walk home with the historical first-ever gold medal at the SBX mixed-team event.
Jacobellis’s gate dropped first and then the gates for the other female dropped in order of their teammates having crossed the finish line, so for Moioli it dropped 0.04 seconds later, for Odine 0.23 and for Carpano 0.88 seconds after the American.
It was actually Moioli though, who managed to fight through the start section in an incredible way and to get into the lead, with Jacobellis seemingly in second, but all of a sudden it was Odine, who sneaked into second position and left the Olympic champion on her tails, whereas Carpano was sitting in fourth.
Moioli, just as Grondin with the men, was ahead of the heat with a 0.52 second margin and it was also a jump, which left Jacobellis the way to pass the young Canadian to get into second. But then, at the upcoming next jump, Carpano lost control during her airtime and wasn’t able to maneuver her way into a safe place anymore, so she actually crashed onto Odine’s head. This was a shocking moment for everyone watching the race from the finish, but luckily it turned out, that nothing major happened. Thank God.
Meanwhile, Jacobellis caught up with Moioli and the two were neck-and-neck. It was not until the roller section, where Jacobellis pumped up enough speed and chose the inside line to pass the Italian. Although Moioli tried to stay in Jacobellis’s draft and regain some speed to get back into the lead, but Jacobellis did not leave her any chance.
In that way Team USA won the historical first-ever SBX mixed-team event gold medal with 36-year-old Lindsey Jacobellis and 40-year-old Nick Baumgartner showing it how it’s done in an incredible way, Michela Moioli and Omar Visintin winning silver and Eliot Grondin and Meryeta Odine adding another medal to their 2022 Olympic medal collection.
The winning team said at the press conference after the competition:
Lindsey Jacobellis on winning gold:
"We came in hot today; we're really excited about it."
Nick Baumgartner’s comments:
"I can't tell you how much pressure is off you when you know you've got someone like Lindsey in the gate after you. I was proud to be able to show everyone I was worth.
“I knew if I messed up, she could cover for me, but I wanted to prove to everyone what I wanted to prove two days ago - and I did that today.”
“And we are looking younger than everybody (JACOBELLIS is 36 and BAUMGARTNER is 40, both the oldest competitors in snowboard cross at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022)."
Well, that was an incredible way to wrap up the snowboard cross Olympic events. Fantastic racing, great action, amazing passes, and smiling medal winners.
We say thank you to the athletes for showing the world what snowboard cross is all about and wish everyone safe travels home!
QUICK LINKS:
Quotes courtesy of Olympic Information Service
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