Team USA’s Jamie Anderson wins gold in women’s snowboard slopestyle

The wind was whipping at Phoenix Snow Park in Pyeongchang, but that didn’t stop Team USA’s Jamie Anderson from claiming her second consecutive gold medal in women’s snowboarding slopestyle.

The 2018 Winter Olympics women’s snowboard slopestyle final showcased the progression of the sport as it’s being led by the young riders, but defending champion Jamie Anderson (27) proved that she’s still the best in the world.

The slopestyle qualification round was cancelled due to poor weather, meaning that 27 women advanced to the final on Monday morning (Sunday night in the Eastern Time Zone) instead of 12.

When morning broke in South Korea, however, winds were still whipping the course, delaying the event by another hour. Even though the event went off, the strong headwind remained an issue, with three riders choosing to skip the jumps altogether because they didn’t have enough speed to land their tricks. When riders did navigate the takeoffs, they were all too often hit by a gust while trying to land their tricks, which definitely hurt the competitiveness of the event.

That isn’t to take anything away from Anderson, however. She undeniably put together the best run of the day, making history in the process:

Let’s take a closer look at the full results of the women’s slopestyle final, reliving the gnarliest tricks and cleanest runs as we celebrate the medalists: Jamie Anderson (U.S., gold); Laurie Blouin (Canada, silver); and Enni Rukajarvi (Finland, bronze).

Women’s Slopestyle Final Results

MEDAL RESULT | Women's Snowboarding Slopestyle

Jamie Anderson

Laurie Blouin

Enni Rukajarvi

Women’s Slopestyle Final Highlights

The United States’ Jessika Jenson made her second Olympics appearance Sunday night after finishing 13th in slopestyle in Sochi. She set the high score of 72.26 on her first run, landing a clean backside 720 — the biggest trick of the day to that point:

Norway’s Silje Norendal’s backside 720 at the end of her first run knocked Jenson out of first place.

Reigning 2018 X Games big air gold medalist Anna Gasser of Austria pulled a 900 double cork out of her bag of tricks, and even though she was docked points for failing to land it, it was one of the most impressive things we saw in the first set of runs.

On her second run, Gasser once again came so close to nailing a frontside 720 but she came in with too much speed, having overcompensated for the wind gusts.

Defending 2014 Sochi slopestyle champion Anderson won gold four years ago with her frontside 720 to cap off a breathtaking run. Anderson’s first run of the 2018 Games was the most technically sound. One of only five riders with a clean first run, she landed both a backside 540 and frontside 720 to move into first place with an 83.0:

Even though she had the gold medal locked down before her second run, Anderson decided to take her victory lap anyway, halting about halfway through when the wind began gusting. But it didn’t matter; she had to have been beaming all the way down.

17-year-old Hailey Langland vaulted up the scoreboard after her second run, but landed just off the podium with a 71.80. To the casual observer, Langland appeared to have one of the best runs of the night. Though it included some nice use of the rails at the top of the course, brushing her hand on her first jump cost her some precious points.

After Max Parrot and Mark McMorris earned silver and bronze medals in men’s slopestyle, Team Canada earned more hardware when Blouin moved into second place with a 76.33. Her medal comes just days after she was taken off the course on a sled after suffering a head injury in training.

Rukajarvi earned her place on the podium thanks to this beautiful 720:

https://twitter.com/7olympics/status/962901662556762117

Next: Best Olympian from each state

For more from the Winter Olympics, make sure to follow FanSided and stay tuned to our Olympics hub for all the latest news and results.