Daily Updates — Live from Nagano

GS Gold Medalist Rebagliati [click to zoom]

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A Giant Day For Slalom
The first snowboarders to represent their sport on the Olympic stage were a group of powerful young athletes who came to Japan with one thing on their minds: winning. There wasn't much to be held back today — wear your country's colors and find the fastest line to the podium. If it wasn't for the strange, illegible signs, completely foreign commentary and massive media circus, after the first round you would have thought it was just another GS race.

Dieter Happ (AUT) [click to zoom]

Cross M was in the house with Jasey Jay Anderson (CAN) in the lead with Chris Klug (USA), followed by Thomas Prugger (ITA) and Martin Freinademetz (AUT) staking third and fourth. Frenchman Nicolas Conte was waiting in the back (fifth) to attack. Sure there are a dozen if not more names you could add to these top five, but these five were the chosen ones today.

Fawcett winning an Olympic qual [Today's Interview]

Mark Fawcett didn't finish (DNF) because his boot ripped off the board [Click to hear the interview]. Mike Jacoby, Dieter Happ and Darren Chalmers all, at least, lost significant speed, if not skidding out completely on the same knoll. Adam Hostetter had a sweeeeeeeet run until he missed his last gate. This average fun lovin' round was kicked down with fresh Nagano sun and a hint of wind complemented by unlimited visibility.

Then there was round two. Grayness lay us under siege. Fog poured down the course and snow spit down out of the soup that encompassed us. Two riders made it down before the onslaught. Then came the inevitable course hold. After ten minutes with suspect change, the race resumed. The crowd turned their attention to the big monitor because, unlike the course, it could be seen. Now it was a guessing game. The crowd seemed content with any rider who came through the soup alive and they cheered equally for all. Due to the barrage of horns and howls from all directions, every rider was smiling by the time he took off his board.

Mike Kildevaeld (DEN) [click to zoom]

Few could lay down a good line on their second run. Ross Rebagliati was the only one who seemed stoked on his run. Perhaps that's because he pushed himself into first and a set of Italians and Austrians had already gone. But, there were still a couple of Frenchman, Austrians and America's Klug to go. Freinadametz couldn't do better than fifth. Thomas Prugger stepped up to the challenge and grabbed second from Ueli Kestenholtz. Neither Dieter Happ nor Dieter Krassnig, both of Austria, was happy with his run.

Chris Klug slipped out on several occasions, pushing him to sixth, and our young fearless leader Jasey Jay couldn't get past the fifth gate without difficulty. After a slide out at the top of the course that almost threw him backwards down the course, Anderson regained and maintained his pride by completing the run.

So Ross Rebagliati became the first gold medal winner — not by default, not by luck, but by overcoming adversity when others couldn't. His lead was followed by Italy's Thomas Prugger, who took the first silver and Switzerland's Ueli Kestenholz who took the first bronze.

Tomorrow the women will take the same stage. Today proved that anything can happen with your one Olympic run and the girl's field is even deeper than the men's. If today was any indication, the women's GS could spell Olympic dreams for the hungry.

— Hans and Brent, Zone Team East, adopting new religions for The Mountain Zone

The Scoreboard [click to zoom]

Results

1.Ross Rebagliati, CAN 2:03.96
2. Thomas Prugger (Italy) 2:03.98
3. Ueli Kestenholz (Switzerland) 2:04.08
4. Dieter Krassnig (Austria) 2:04.33
5. Matthieu Bozzetto (France) 2:04.57
6. Christopher Klug (U.S.) 2:05.25
7. Martin Freinademetz (Austria) 2:05.34
8. Maxence Idesheim (France) 2:05.52
9. Dieter Happ (Austria) 2:07.05
10. Thedo Remmelink (Netherlands) 2:07.25
11. Willi Trakofler (Italy) 2:07.30
12. Christophe Segura (France) 2:08.86
13. Elmar Messner (Italy) 2:09.41
14. Dieter Moherndl (Germany) 2:10.03
15. Mike Kildevaeld (Denmark) 2:10.42
16. Jasey-Jay Anderson (Canada) 2:11.33
17. Mike Jacoby (U.S.) 2:11.80
18. Stephen Copp (Sweden) 2:11.89
19. Lukasz Starowicz (Poland) 2:12.31
20. Karl Frenademez (Italy) 2:15.95
21. Mariano Lopez (Argentina) 2:31.31

Did Not Finish

Nicolas Conte (France)
Richard Richardsson (Sweden)
Markos Chatzikyriakakis (Greece)
Sigi Grabner (Austria)
Bernd Kroschewski (Germany)
Darren Chalmers (Canada)
Zeke Steggall (Australia)
Mark Fawcett (Canada)
Stergios Pappos (Greece)
Fadri Mosca (Switzerland)
Gilles Jaquet (Switzerland)
Andre Gruetter (Switzerland)
Adam Hostetter (U.S.)