BEIJING, China — Americans Nick Baumgartner and Lindsey Jacobellis won the gold medal in the Winter Olympics debut of mixed team snowboardcross Friday.
For Baumgartner, 40, it's the first medal for him in four Olympics. It comes days after he was knocked out in the men's quarterfinal. The oldest member of the 2022 U.S. Olympic team was emotional after that race, noting all the hard work he had put in only to come up short.
Jacobellis, 36, won her first gold medal in women's snowboardcross earlier this week, 16 years after a silver at the Torino Olympics.
In mixed team snowboardcross, each team consists of one man and one woman. The men go down the hill first in groups of four. When the men cross the finish line, their times are transferred to their teammates. The women then take off in a staggered format based on the time difference.
Baumgartner finished his leg of the final in first place, but giving Jacobellis a 0.04-second advantage at the start of her run. Jacobellis struggled a little at the start, but took the lead on the second-to-last turn and held on for the win by 0.2 seconds.
Baumgartner was cheering Jacobellis all the way during her run.
"Yes!" he screamed with his hands in the air before running to Jacobellis to hug her.
"Way to ride. That was beautiful," Baumgartner told Jacobellis. "You knew when to go for it. You knew when to set it up in the draft. So sick."
For the self-titled "80's babies," it was the perfect end to an emotional roller coaster of a week.
"I was really happy that my body was feeling great even though I'm exhausted at the end of the day" Jacobellis said. "All the pain is worth it."
"It's days like two days ago that make today feel so good," Baumgartner said, referring to his quarterfinal loss in the men's event. "I can't tell you how much pressure is off you when you know you got someone in the gate like Lindsey after you."
This story will be updated with more details.