Red Gerard Lands First U.S. Gold of 2018 Winter Olympics

17-year-old takes home gold medal in snowboarding slopeside event.

Red Gerard
Redmond Gerard of the United States celebrates as he enters the finish area after his final run in the Snowboard Men's Slopestyle Final on day two of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Phoenix Snow Park on February 11, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Getty Images

The U.S. Olympic team is officially on the medal board, thanks to a 17-year-old on a snowboard.

Red Gerard landed the gold in the snowboarding slopestyle event, and in the process gave the American team its first medal at the 2018 Winter Games. And he did it in dramatic fashion after entering the third and final run in 11th place.

Red Gerard
Gold medalist Redmond Gerard of the United States poses on the podium during the Medal Ceremony for the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle on day two of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Medal Plaza on February 11, 2018, in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
Getty Images

That’s when, in the words of Sports Illustrated, he started “pulling off the run of his young life, which included nailing a backside triple cork 1440.”

Gerard, from Westlake, Ohio, became the youngest ever snowboarder to win a snowboarding medal at the Olympics. A pair of Canadians, Max Parrot and Mark McMorris, took home the silver and bronze respectively.

Win the Ultimate Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix Experience

Want the F1 experience of a lifetime? Here’s your chance to win tickets to see Turn 18 Grandstand, one of Ultimate Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix’s most premier grandstands!