Olympics, Snowboarding, Sochi 2014

Sochi 2014 – USA Gold Medal Winner #1 – Sage Kotsenburg

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Well who had Sage Kotsenburg as their pick for the first person to win a gold for the US in Sochi? No one?

Sage Kotsenburg entered the 2014 slopestyle event under the radar. The attention was on Shaun White and the will he or won’t he question about whether he would be in the event. Kotsenburg had never won a gold medal before, no X-games winner trying to make it at the Olympics here.

Kotsenburg had grabbed silver a couple of times in the X-Games before (2010 and 2012) but after finishing eighth in his qualifying heat on Thursday no one was pushing him for the major day on Saturday. Even Kotsenburg was just going to go give it his best and see what happens.

Things got off to a great start for Kotsenburg when he scored an 89 on his first run in the semifinal. That alone would have been enough for a spot in the final but he upped it ever higher with a 90.50 on run two. He seemed pretty excited at what he had been able to do.

Once into the final Kotsenburg set the bar with a 93.50 and watched as everyone failed to clear it. Kotsenburg was good on every run of the day, three runs (out of four) at or over 89 by Kotsenburg Saturday. Number of runs by everyone else (out of 60) at or over 89? THREE. Kotsenburg was by far the best snowboarder on the day and deserved the gold medal completely.

Sure will be a different world for the 20-year old when he gets back to the states. Give him a follow on twitter @sagekotsenburg.

And get to know the new face of slopestyle in the US. I have a feeling he’ll be popular with the ladies as well…

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