Slopestyle Makes Olympic Debut; U.S. Snowboarder Kotsenburg Wins First Gold of Sochi Games.

In the highly anticipated Olympic debut of snowboard slopestyle, U.S. rider Sage Kostsenburg flipped and twisted his way to becoming the first gold medalist of the Sochi 2014 Games.

Kostsenburg 20-year-old Park City, Utah snowboarder earned the distinction of becoming the first slopestyle champion in Olympic Games history.

The competition was contested on a beautiful, sun-drenched day with temperatures just around freezing at the finish. Flags from Sweden, Finland, the United States, Canada and Russia were seen waving with the enormous grandstand filled to roughly 90-percent capacity. The crowd atmosphere and rider vibe was relaxed, yet highly enthusiastic.

"All of the riders were stoked today with how everything was organized; it was really smooth and we just went out there and rode and did our thing," said Kotsenburg. "All of us were having a blast."

"Everything went pretty smooth here today, it was pretty cool to see," he added about the traditional X-Games sport’s Olympic debut.

A little less than two hours after winning the historic gold, Kotsenburg tweeted: WOW!! I just won the Olympics!! Bringing back the first gold here to the USA! Love seeing all the support from everyone YOU RULE!!

Norwegian Staale Sandbech claimed silver, while Canadian Mark McMorris took bronze.

The 650-meter Rosa Style long course featured three jib features and three enormous jumps, with snowboarders soaring past a giant Russian Matreska doll off one of the jumps. The Olympic rings were visible on a sidehill adjacent to the course and the three words of the Sochi 2014 motto ‘Hot, Cool, Yours’ were displayed prominently alongside the course.

British snowboarder Billy Morgan gave the course and its array of features high marks.

"It’s an absolutely amazing course, it couldn’t be better – the jumps are big and the rail lines are sick with so many options," Morgan said. " If I could keep riding this for the rest of my life, I would just stay here."

Norwegian silver medalist Staale Sandbech said there is room for improvement with the new Olympic event in terms of collaboration between riders and race directors.

"We can have more input and cooperation, but at the end of the day it was sunny and the slopestyle course worked out really well," Sandbech said. "I’m really happy that slopestyle is now part of the Olympics."

Finals began at 12:45pm sharp at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, and competition moved smoothly and quickly though the two rounds of twelve riders. Huge airs and creative tricks – such as Kotsenburg’s impressive 1620 Japan – kept fans and riders alike on the edge of their seat.

In the mixed zone, reporters hung over one another and battled for space – as to be expected at any Olympic Games – to talk to snowboarders. The three snowboarding medalists did not make their way to the print media section of the mixed zone until more than hour after the competition.

Other than some minorconfusion among photographers, snowboarders, and team personnel moving around the busy maze-like area, all generally went fairly well.

Security at the venue was firm, but not overbearing. Officers with German Shepherds were seen walking around the premises following competition.

Prior to competition, there were some challenges with Sochi 2014’s free WIFI for journalists, which press staff attributed to journalists using their personal hotspots, slowing the internet speed.

Saturday marked the first time that a major international slopestyle competition was held at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park venue. Last February at a World Cup test event, lack of snow prevented organizers from sculpting a suitable course and the event was cancelled.

"We had to take a risk coming in, but we have the best people in the world building the courses and putting everything together," said FIS race director Joe Fitzgerald.

"I don’t think you can get a better day to run a competition and what a great day to introduce this event to the world," Fitzgerald added.

Of course, there’s a lot of things we can do better, but we’ve had three or four world championships, many world cups and lots of knowledgeable people so it’s great to bring everyone together and what a fantastic presentation for the sport."

Written by Brian Pinelli

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.