American Gerard second youngest men's gold medalist at Winter Olympics

American Redmond Gerard became the second youngest gold medalist in an individual men's event at the Winter Olympics by winning the snowboard slopestyle champion at the Phoenix Snow Park here on Sunday.

Toni Nieminen of Finland is the youngest men's gold medalist, who won the individual large hill event in ski jumping in 1992 at the age of 16.

Gerard, 17, convinced the jury with his unconventional choice of route in the slopestyle final and got 87.16 points to win America's first gold here, reports Xinhua news agency.

"It was awesome. I just told myself that I want to land a run and I was a little bummed on my first two runs because I fell a couple of times," Gerard said. "I'm just so happy that it all worked out."

Gerard preserved the American streak of winning gold in slopestyle, which was added to the Olympics schedule in 2014.

"It feels incredible. I'm just really happy that I got to land a run and I'm just really excited right now," Gerard added.

Canadian Max Parrot took the silver with his final run of 86.00 and compatriot Mark McMorris got the bronze in 85.20.--IANS

sam/tsb