Watch the first American win a gold medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics

Gold medalist Redmond Gerard of the United States poses on the podium during the Medal Ceremony for the Men&#039;s Snowboard Slopestyle on day two of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at M — (Image credit: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Colorado snowboarder Red Gerard took home the first gold medal for the United States at the 2018 Winter Olympics on Saturday in the men's snowboard slopestyle competition.

At just 17, Gerard is among the youngest competitors at this year's Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. His winning run included a backside triple cork 1440-degree spin on the final jump and made use of course elements other competitors did not incorporate.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.