|
 Switzerland's Patrizia Kummer beat Tomoka Takeuchi of Japan to
win the women's final.
As "Good Vibrations" played over the tannoy, Wild wrapped himself in
a Russian flag handed to him by Zavarzina after beating Swiss Nevin
Galmarini to give the hosts, and the partisan crowd, a first
snowboarding gold.
Wild, who was born in Washington State but changed allegiance to
Russia in 2011 after marrying Zavarzina, trailed Galmarini after the
first run of the final but edged ahead in the second when the Swiss
slipped.
Zan Kosir of Slovenia won the bronze.
Kummer, the gold medal favorite, benefited from a more dramatic fall
from Takeuchi in the second run of the women's final and celebrated
a commanding victory by jumping into the crowd to embrace her
coaches.
Zavarzina won the first medal of day, riding a wave of noise to a
small final victory over Austria's Ina Meschik under picture-perfect
blue skies at the Extreme Park.
[to top of second column] |
Kosir then recorded a convincing victory over German Patrick Bussler
in the men's small final to claim a medal, and the stage was set for
Wild to bring the event to a climax.
The 27-year-old had been in blistering form all day, scything
through the snow and around the flags to win all of his races
convincingly.
Galmarini, who beat Austrian favorite Karl Benjamin in the round of
16, had also been in good form and took advantage when Wild
delivered his first ragged performance in the first run of the
final.
Trailing by half a second, Wild slammed his fists into his chest
before charging out of the gate on the second run, quickly making up
the deficit before steaming to victory amid deafening noise when the
Swiss made his mistake.
(Additional reporting by Philip O'Connor; editing by Peter
Rutherford and Robert Woodward)
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