To paraphrase those mortal words of Blink 182: "Dammit," Kelly Clark is growing up. In the world of Olympic snowboarding, she already has.

Clark, 18, made good use of Blink's punk rock attitude as she cranked up her headphones and dialed in her halfpipe game, blasting the field of 23 of the world's hottest riders to claim America's first gold medal of the Salt Lake City Olympics on Sunday.

Clark became the first American ever to win gold in this American-invented sport, doing so by posting one of the highest scores ever awarded in a women's halfpipe competition. Rest assured, somewhere Jake Burton is smiling right now.

Clark, who rides for Burton, out-shined the field in nearly every run, yet she still had to come from behind to win the gold. Apparently, she saved her best for last, wowing the capacity crowd of 16,500 rowdy fans with a score of 47.9 out of a possible 50 points for a dramatic victory over reigning world champion Doriane Vidal of France on the final run of the day.

Vidal's silver-medal run scored 43.0 points. Fabienne Reuteler of Switzerland took bronze with a score of 39.7.

"I'm so psyched. It's so amazing. I can't even explain what I'm feeling right now," Clark gushed from the finish area. "I've never seen anything like it... to have all this support here in the U.S." Suffice it to say, neither had the crowd.

After posting the top run in the qualifying round and a solid first run of the finals that included huge amplitude and difficult technical maneuvers like a McTwist 540 and a frontside 720, Clark found herself in the improbable position of trailing Vidal. Vidal used big amplitude of her own to complement a fluid riding style and take the lead in the first round of the finals with her score of 43.0.

After Vidal failed to up the ante further by falling on her own 720 attempt in the final round, Clark rose to the occasion with what might arguably be called the run of the century. Maintaining her trademark big air, she smoothed out the transitions and cleaned the technical tricks in a stunning display of snowboarding.

"Going into my last run, I knew that I was going to get no worse than second, so I figured I really had to go all out, really give it all I had," Clark said. "I had to or I would regret it if I didn't, so I worked on cleaning my run up and also I grabbed my 540 for the first time and also I did the 720 again, which I needed to do. I had amplitude on my side, but my technical riding wasn't there, so I needed another technical trick. I knew that going into it and I pulled out the seven."

Erratic judging throughout the day upped the suspense, but even the French judge recognized the American's superiority, perhaps making a statement when he awarded Clark a perfect 10 for her efforts. Other Americans didn't fare as well by the judges' standards, with Nagano bronze medalist Shannon Dunn-Downing settling for 5th place after what seemed a spectacular final run of her own. Her score of 37.2 was edged out by Kjersti Buaas Oe of Norway with a 37.3. The third American competitor, Tricia Byrnes, finished 6th with a 36.4, just ahead of FIS World Cup points leader and Olympic favorite Nici Pederzolli of Austria, whose final score was 35.7.

"I was kind of surprised about how much they counted amplitude. I like to get technical and do innovative tricks. (The judges) scored huge on amplitude," Dunn-Downing said. "I think that's a little strange because it doesn't really push the riding too much."

While it may not have come from the judge's corner, just about every rider in this Olympic halfpipe contest felt like women's riding was pushed to a new paradigm at Park City. And they all point to Kelly Clark as the pusher.

"Kelly's run was the winning run," Dunn-Downing said. "It definitely pushed the level of women's riding to a new level."

— Scott Willoughby, MountainZone.com Correspondent