Wescott was followed by silver medal winner Radoslav Zidek of Slovakia, Paul-Henri Delerue of France, who took bronze, and Spain's Jordi Font.

A year after the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, it was announced that snowboardcross would be an official medal event at the Torino Olympics. Snowboarding itself is still a very young Olympic sport as it debuted at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

"Since February of '03 I've been looking to this as the goal that I wanted to accomplish," said Wescott. "So, it's a pretty amazing experience to come here today and actually get that done."

In the final run, Zidek jumped out to a quick lead and held it until Wescott made an amazing heelside pass in a tight right-hand corner. He held the lead all the way to the finish line and won by about a half a board length.

"Seth's run (in the finals) was unbelievable," said U.S. coach Peter Foley. "He was so patient. (Zidek) would go on the inside and leave Seth and build a gap. Seth would just be patient and he knew exactly where he needed to be."

Wescott cruised through the first round and quarterfinals by taking the holeshot and finishing first. In the semis, he placed second behind Delerue and just ahead of Smith, who was third.

One of the most talented all-around riders in the world, Wescott can rip it up in the halfpipe and in deep big-mountain powder as well as on the course. The reigning SBX World Champion attempted to make the '02 Games as a halfpipe rider, but fell short. Over the years (he started riding when he was 10), Wescott spent many hours competing on various snowboardcross tours and was always a primary voice in the march to progress the sport.

"Seeing the amount of marketing that went into this Olympics based around snowboarding, I think snowboarding is really becoming the heart and soul of the Olympic games."

Holland, who recently won the Snowboarder X gold medal at X Games Ten, and Smith ran in the same foursome in the quarterfinals. Smith, riding just in front of Holland, speed-checked before hitting a jump and Holland overshot the landing and couldn't stay on course. Smith ended up winning the heat, which included Delerue, but was later ousted in the semis.

"Nate had it in mind to win and it didn't go his way," said Foley. "It didn't go his way because he didn't think Jason was gonna slow down that much and Jason did. But, you have to watch out. You have to leave yourself room in a situation like that and you can't count on the other person to ride the way you want them to.

Watanabe was a late entry as he replaced Jayson Hale (Sugar Bowl, CA), who was injured in a training run earlier in the week. A former snowboard racer, Watanabe qualified 29th and was knocked out of the contest in the first round.

The snowboardcross demands that competitors be solid all-around riders as it includes both racing and freestyle elements. The course is full of jumps, berms, tight turns and gates, so carving and big airs can both be found in the same event. The Bardonecchia course had 38 total features along its 3,000-foot length.

All four U.S. starters made it out of the qualification round and into the 32-man final field.

In qualifications, riders take two runs on the course by themselves. The top 32 advance to the final rounds, where eight four-man heats kick things off. From the first round of finals, the top-two finishers from each heat advance to quarterfinals, then semifinals.

A good amount of carnage on the course is customary, as was proven today when there were six crashes among the eight first round heats.

Wescott's gold was the seventh medal (and fourth gold) won by U.S. skiers and snowboarders so far at the Torino Olympics.

The Women's Snowboardcross makes its debut Friday. Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) is the lone American competitor.

XX OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Bardonecchia, ITA - Feb. 16, 2006
Men's Snowboardcross

1. Seth Wescott, Carrabassett Valley, Maine
2. Radoslav Zidek, Slovakia
3. Paul-Henri Delerue, France
4. Jordi Font, Spain
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6. Jason Smith, Basalt, Colo.
14. Nate Holland, Squaw Valley, Calif.
31. Graham Watanabe, Sun Valley, Idaho