Jacobellis won gold in her fifth Olympic appearance.
losing a commanding lead in the final moments of the women's snowboard cross, the 36-year-old has earned her place atop the podium and given the U.S. its first gold medal at the Beijing Games.
Jacobellis entered Beijing with high expectations. After opening her Olympic career with a silver medal, she struggled to follow up that performance, missing the final rounds in both Vancouver and Sochi. In PyeongChang, she looked poised to leave with some hardware, but ultimately fell to fourth, missing out on the bronze medal by .003 seconds.
In her fifth Olympic appearance, Jacobellis finally captured that elusive gold medal -- and she did it in style. After soundly making her way through the first three rounds, Jacobellis lined up with a gold medal on the line. The American jumped out front early in the final round and held off silver medalist Chloe Trespeuch of France. Meryeta Odine of Canada rounded out the podium with a bronze finish.