Snowboard cross is just the best!!!
Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner are Olympic mixed snowboard cross gold medalists after an absolutely epic finish.
On Saturday in Beijing, the final of the mixed team snowboard cross event got underway. Mixed snowboard cross is a new event at these Winter Olympics, featuring pairings of one man and one woman snowboarder in a relay race of sorts. The men start off the relay by racing down the course, then the women finish it with staggered start times for how their partners ended.
Just a few days after Jacobellis nabbed her long-awaited gold in women’s snowboard cross, the 36-year-old teamed up with 40-year-old Baumgartner for the mixed event as the oldest pair in the competition. Baumgartner went first, putting down an excellent run that set Jacobellis up with a 0.04 second lead.
Then Jacobellis did what she does best and finished off the relay with a stunning gold-medal winning run.
Baumgartner’s reaction to Jacobellis’s run is also absolutely heartwarming as he cheers her on from the bottom of the hill.
Jacobellis and Baumgartner now have the first gold medal in Olympic mixed team snowboard cross history after that incredible relay. Fans could not have been happier for both snowboarders after the final race too!