‘Winter Olympics’: Snowboarder Lindsey wins USA's first gold medal   

Snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis has won the United States' first gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Wednesday (today). 

Lindsey’s snowboard cross win is also her first Olympic gold and the culmination of a long journey for the 36-year-old, who swept to victory in her fifth Olympic appearance. 

The racer was competing in her fifth Olympics and captured the first US win of what has been an otherwise dismal Games for the red, white and blue.

The win took at least 16 years in the making, as the athlete suffered a brutal fall that cost her gold in her Olympics debut at the 2006 Torino Winter Games.

Snowboarder won the silver medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. In 2010, she came in fifth, seventh in 2014 and fourth in 2018. 

2006: 🥈
2010: 5th
2014: 7th
2018: 4th
2022: 🥇@LindsJacobellis can finally call herself an Olympic champion. #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/XkdxleCJLA

— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 9, 2022

Meanwhile her World Cup record has seen her take 52 podiums and 30 wins in individual snowboard cross alone.

The victory came after America's top racer, skier Mikaela Shiffrin, skidded out and failed to finish the first run of the slalom, making her 0-for-2 in Beijing. 

Moreover, Jacobellis’ gold marks Team USA’s seventh medal so far at this year’s games. Overall, American athletes have won five silver medals and one bronze.