USA's Sage Kotsenburg becomes 1st athlete to win gold

Sage Kotsenburg, the 20-year-old from Park City, Utah, stomped a 93.5 on his first run of the inaugural Olympic slopestyle contest and watched it hold up as he became the first athlete in this year's olympics to win the gold medal.

As top competitors Max Parrot and Mark McMorris of Canada faltered, Kotsenburg took advantage with an array of technical tricks like the Japan air and a double nose-grab. With Shaun White dropping out of the slopestyle earlier in the week, Kotsenburg picked up the mantel for the Americans as the only U.S. rider in the finals.



Kotsenburg twirled an American flag in celebration after his victory was secure when Parrot's score fell short of the medal stand in the event's final run. The gold was also the first medal won by a U.S. Olympian in Russia. The United States boycotted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow, the only other time Russia has played host to the Olympics.