Red Gerard: 5 Things To Know About The Snowboarder, 17, Who Earned USA’s 1st Gold At Olympics
February 11, 2018
Red Gerard: 5 Things To Know About The Snowboarder, 17, Who Earned USA’s 1st Gold At Olympics
Red Gerard won USA its first medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics after winning gold for his Slopestyle run. Here’s what you should know about the snowboarder!
Thanks to Red Gerard, 17, Team USA won its first medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics! Here’s everything you should know about the young snowboarder who won gold after starting in last place:
1. He won USA’s first medal of the 2018 Olympics despite starting in last place. Despite two forgettable runs that landed him in 11th place out of the 11 competitors, the teen pulled through in his final Slopestyle run with a Backside triple cork 1440 that earned him an impressive score of 87.17 and a gold medal.
2. His Slopestyle run made history. At 17-years-old, Red became the youngest ever Olympic snowboard medalist. He is also the second-youngest man to win a medal in an individual event. Finland’s Toni Nieminen won a ski jumping gold in 1992 at the age of 16.
3. He’s been snowboarding since he was a toddler. His family is initially from Rocky River, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland. Red began snowboarding at age 2, but he wasn’t able to give it his all until the Gerards moved to Silverthorne, Colorado. By age 11, he had a sponsorship with snowboarding company Burton.
4. He has a ton of support. The teen is the sixth of seven children. He has four brothers, Brendan, Creighton, Malachi, and Trevor, and two sisters, Asher and Tieghan. His huge family, including his parents Conrad and Jen, all showed up in PyeongChang to cheer him on. In total, he had 18 people flock to South Korea to watch him shred.
5. He could win another medal this year. The teen is set to compete in Big Air, a snowboarding event making its Olympic debut at the 2018 Games. Men’s qualifying heats are scheduled for Feb. 20 at 7:30 pm EST, with the final airing on Feb. 23 at 8pm EST.
Momma, I made It to the Olympics! I think it's live on Tv at 8pm eastern 📷 @malachigerard
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HollywoodLifers, what do you think of Red? Did you see his gold medal-winning Slopestyle run?