At today’s inaugural Olympic snowboard slopestyle contest, the judges made a stand for the second-half of that word. Style won out over triple corks and triple flips. It was surprising, it was controversial, but in the end, it might be the best thing that could have happened to the sport. It was a bittersweet moment. It was heartbreaking to watch Mark McMorris, the odds-on favorite, land two triple corks in one run, two weeks after breaking his rib at the X Games, and finish third. U.S. rider Sage Kotsenberg, the last of the four riders named to the slopestyle team, won the first gold medal in slopestyle history and the first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics. And that distinction couldn’t have gone to a more likeable guy. In the end, the entire podium–Sage, Staale Sandbech of Noway and McMorris–was an incredible representation of the sport of snowboading and the riding in the first Olympic contest was incredible.

This morning, I arrived at the venue super early and hiked the course to meet up with course designer and builder Anders Forsell. I talked to him about the beating his course has taken in the media and gave him the opportunity to respond to it all. That piece is HERE.

And my piece on the first snowboard slopestyle competition at the Olympics is HERE.

I think I finally moved past the jet lag. Hasta manana!