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Jacobellis, 36, and Baumgartner, 40, were the oldest team to
compete at Saturday's mixed team event, but defeated their
younger rivals in a nail-biting final.
Jacobellis, who won the United States its first gold at the
Beijing Olympics earlier this week for the women's snowboard
cross, came out swinging in the final run, but was quickly
overtaken by Pyeongchang gold medallist Michela Moioli of Italy.
Moioli and Jacobellis were neck-and-neck while the other two
racers, for Canada and Italy, fell behind and later crashed on
top of each other.
Jacobellis kept hot on Moioli's heels and the American edged out
the Italian at the last moment, winning by 0.2 seconds.
Canada eventually caught up to win bronze.
"Don't count the old people out ever!" an elated Baumgartner
told reporters after the final, adding that their years of
training and competitions helped them win gold.
"For any athlete, getting pushed out by the younger generation
is a feeling that really sucks, so for us to go out there and
put our stamp of approval on it, (to show) that we're not done
yet, we just gotta work a little harder and we're willing to put
that work in, so it's a good feeling."
Jacobellis' medal earlier this week was a victory that went some
way to making up for a career-defining fall at the 2006 Turin
Games.
"We've definitely been through a lot and we've seen each other's
ups and downs and struggles, so to be able to come together and
work as a team and learn from each other ... I thought we did
great today," she said.
Canadian Eliot Grondin, who was part of the team who took
bronze, said it was impressive to see the American pair dominate
the race.
"I've watched these people race since I was born," he said.
"Nick is 20 years older than me. Just to be able to share a big
final with those guys ... It's insane."
The mixed team event made its Olympics debut at the Beijing
Games, but most boarders were already familiar with the course
at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou as they had already
raced individual competitions there earlier in the week.
Heavy snow began to fall in Zhangjiakou ahead of Saturday's
final, covering the course with a layer of powdery snow. Air
temperatures fell to -11 degree Celsius (12.2°F) and visibility
was lower than normal.
Australian Belle Brockhoff was earlier taken off the course by a
stretcher after she clipped another boarder and fell during a
frenetic quarter-final race.
(Reporting by Mari Saito and Winni Zhou; Editing by Peter
Rutherford and Christian Schmollinger)
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