Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner are Olympic mixed snowboard cross gold medalists after an absolutely epic finish.
On Saturday in Beijing, the final of the mixed team snowboard cross event got underway. Mixed snowboard cross is a new event at these Winter Olympics, featuring pairings of one man and one woman snowboarder in a relay race of sorts. The men start off the relay by racing down the course, then the women finish it with staggered start times for how their partners ended.
Just a few days after Jacobellis nabbed her long-awaited gold in women’s snowboard cross, the 36-year-old teamed up with 40-year-old Baumgartner for the mixed event as the oldest pair in the competition. Baumgartner went first, putting down an excellent run that set Jacobellis up with a 0.04 second lead.
Then Jacobellis did what she does best and finished off the relay with a stunning gold-medal winning run.
HISTORIC GOLD for @TeamUSA!@LindsJacobellis and Nick Baumgartner win gold in the first-ever Olympic mixed team snowboard cross! #WinterOlympics | #WatchWithUS
📺 : @nbc and @peacockTV
💻 : https://t.co/PXMUVgJZ8P pic.twitter.com/aRsLjp7pDG— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2022
Baumgartner’s reaction to Jacobellis’s run is also absolutely heartwarming as he cheers her on from the bottom of the hill.
.@nickbaumgartner screaming his support for @LindsJacobellis as she won is a GOLD MEDAL MOOD. #WatchWithUS #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/AiysuXS5bW
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2022
Jacobellis and Baumgartner now have the first gold medal in Olympic mixed team snowboard cross history after that incredible relay. Fans could not have been happier for both snowboarders after the final race too!
A 36 year old and a 40 year old just won Team USA a gold medal in snowboarding, absolutely massive moment for Old Millennials
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) February 12, 2022
HE'S A MAN! HE'S 40! AND HE'S A GOLD MEDALIST! pic.twitter.com/0zL7wPuJf9
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) February 12, 2022
Snowboard cross is our greatest sport. I won’t be taking questions at this time
— Brian McNally (@bmcnally14) February 12, 2022
I've always said mixed team snowboard cross is my one passion in life for the last 15 minutes. That was fun.
— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) February 12, 2022
i love snowboard cross. i love mixed events. i love this for jacobellis and baumgartner!
— Kate Morrison (@unlikelyfanatic) February 12, 2022
USA, the greatest snowboard cross nation there is
— Katie Brown (@katiebhockey) February 12, 2022
absolutely going apeshit for Lindsey Jacobellis
— Matt Ufford (@mattufford) February 12, 2022
I’d never heard of mixed team snowboard cross until tonight… yet I was just screaming & yelling at TV rooting them on like I’d watched it forever!! 🥇 🇺🇸
SPORTS!!
And even better that Baumgartner is a 40-year old Michiganander and a Yooper!! #Olympics https://t.co/eKrtKUOBOs
— Zach Fisher (@ZFishFFish) February 12, 2022
Lindsay Jacobellis waited 16 years to find the gold she lost in 2006.
Now she has two gold medals.
She (age 36) and Nick Baumgartner (40) just won the mixed team snowboard cross. It's his first medal in his fourth Olympics.
Talk about perseverance.— John Branch (@JohnBranchNYT) February 12, 2022