Lindsey Jacobellis earns gold medal redemption 16 years after horror gaffe in Winter Olympics

ByBen Snowball

Updated 09/02/2022 at 11:54 GMT

On a hugely disappointing day for Team GB’s Charlotte Bankes, who started as a gold medal contender but crashed out in the quarter-finals, American Lindsey Jacobellis produced the fairytale of the Winter Olympics so far with a stunning redemption ride in the women’s snowboard cross. Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+

Lindsey Jacobellis captured an emotional gold in the women’s snowboard cross at Beijing 2022 – 16 years after her iconic last-gasp gaffe that cost her the Olympic title in Turin.

Prior to Wednesday's triumph, the American was best remembered for throwing away a huge lead at the 2006 Games after needlessly showboating on the penultimate jump. She crashed, allowing Tanja Frieden to dramatically swoop through for gold.

This time there was no repeat. After emerging from a quarter-final that saw favourite Charlotte Bankes crash out, Jacobellis cruised through her semi-final to tee up her chance of redemption.

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She led from start to finish, passing up the opportunity for flair on the final jump, as she became the oldest snowboarding medallist in Olympic history aged 36.

Bankes was billed as Team GB’s best hope of a gold medal in China but the 26-year-old, who had represented France at the last two Olympics, suffered a heartbreaking exit in the quarters.

With Bankes out and defending champion Michela Moioli crashing in the semi-finals, it left a wide open field for the final. And it was Jacobellis who soared to the title, despite a couple of nervy moments, as she ended Team USA’s wait for gold in Beijing.

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France’s Chloe Trespeuch took silver ahead of Canada’s Meryeta Odine in bronze, with Australia's Belle Brockhoff finishing off the podium in fourth.

Jacobellis' career had yielded five individual snowboard cross world titles and 10 Winter X Games triumphs, but the Olympic title was the one that had repeatedly eluded her.

After her brain malfunction in Turin, she was disqualified at Vancouver 2010, crashed out at Sochi 2014 and went from first to last in the final at PyeongChang 2018.

"I guess five times is the charm and how it needed to be. You never know why," she said. "I was always still hungry for it, always still loved racing.

"Every morning before a race, it's still nerve-wracking, still stressful and it's a blast once you cross the finish line.

"I was just trying to go one heat at a time and just tell myself I just needed to be one or two making it into finals. I already felt I was a winner because I made it to finals - because it's so challenging now to make it."

Jacobellis finishes with silver after showboat fail at Torino 2006 Winter Olympics

It looked like there would be no fairytale ending to a storied career but, despite failing to capture an individual world title since 2017, Jacobellis came up with a stunning redemption ride to consign memories of that day in Turin to history.

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Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+

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