Jamie Anderson earns gold as USA sweeps slopestyle

Jamie Anderson, the 23-year-old from California, won gold in the inaugural women's slopestyle event at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, posting a score of 95.25 to give the U.S. their third medal of the games – and second in slopestyle.

Less than 24 hours after Sage Kotsenburg stunned the men's slopestyle field with a gold medal, Anderson, the favorite in the women's, pushed Team USA up the medal table with an array of spins off the course's three jumps. She was in 5th place before delivering a dazzling final run that included a backside 720 with a mute grab. It was enough to impress the judges, who rewarded her with a 14½-point improvement from her first run.



Anderson, one of eight children home-schooled in California, has dominated the women's slopestyle scene since arriving as a 16-year-old. While women's slopestyle does not feature the massive spins and flips of its men's counterpart, Anderson's style helped propel to the top of the sport – and now into Olympics history.