Anderson stays golden in perilous slopestyle
Jamie Anderson finished her run, glanced up at the scoreboard and stuck out her tongue for the world to see, a gesture not of frustration but relief. The American snowboarder had reached the bottom of windwhipped Phoenix Snow Park in the women’s slopestyle finals intact and upright.
On a day when conditions in Pyeongchang, South Korea, were tricky at best, treacherous at worst — one that left many in the 25-woman final wondering what they were doing there in the first place — it was more than enough for Anderson to make Olympic history.
The 27-year-old from South Lake Tahoe became the first female snowboarder to win two Olympic golds, defending the title she won in Sochi four years ago by putting up an 83.00 during the first of her two runs.
Yet the enduring image from slopestyle’s second Olympic appearance will be the tumult of riders crashing or bailing or some combination of the two.
Anderson wasn’t immune. She washed out in her second run with the gold clinched.
Laurie Blouin of Canada took silver, with Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi finishing third, a testament more to courage than skill.
High winds scrubbed qualifying Sunday, turning Monday’s final into a 26-woman, two-run free-for-all with Anderson, the top-ranked snowboarder in the world, going last.
“I was trying to keep the spirits high, like, ‘Let’s run it,’ ” Anderson said. “A handful of the girls were like, ‘No it’s not safe,’ and things like that. It’s not like what we’re doing is safe, anyhow.”
Only nine of the combined 50 runs were even close to clean.
Austria’s Anna Gasser, one of the few riders courageous enough to throw in a double underflip that has become routine in her sport over the past few years, said the women thought they had to compete regardless of the conditions.
“They kind of told us if we don’t go today, there was no other day, so every girl felt the pressure to go,” Gasser said.