Pyeongchang, South Korea….Red Gerard (Silverthorne, Colo.) stomped the run of his life to win Team USA’s first gold medal of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games Sunday in slopestyle snowboarding. “I’m just insanely excited right now,” said Gerard, who is the youngest Olympic snowboarding gold medalist ever. “I can’t believe it all worked out. I just wanted to land a run. After falling on my second run, I was really excited for the third run.”

Red Gerard won the gold medal in slopestyle snowboarding Sunday at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games at Phoenix Snow Park in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Getty Images – Clive Rose)

Sitting well out of medal contention after crashing out on his first two of three runs, Gerard absolutely nailed his third run with a score of 87.16 and withstood a stout challenge from Canada’s Max Parrot, whose third and final run score of 86.00 was good enough for silver. Parrot’s teammate, Mark McMorris, tallied an 85.20 on his second run for his second consecutive Olympic bronze medal.

“When that score came up my jaw dropped,” Gerard said. “I was like ‘this isn’t real’. I would have been happy to just land a run, but to land a run and win, it’s crazy.”

Gerard’s gold medal was the second consecutive Olympic slopestyle snowboarding gold for Team USA, dating back to the 2014 Games when Sage Kotsenburg won. Jamie Anderson also won the women’s slopestyle’s snowboarding event at the 2014 Games, which was the sport’s slopestyle Olympic debut. Anderson will defend her gold when the women’s competition begins with qualifying Sunday afternoon.

From the US Ski & Snowboard Team.