--- description: Snowboarder wins slopestyle event after Shaun White's withdrawal title: Sage Kotsenburg Wins Snowboarding Gold Medal At Sochi Winter Olympics image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte86e88cc067b8b27/6986827913c79fb2b5190b4d/2014-02-08t104937z_1247071971_lm2ea2801.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [olympics](/tag/olympics/) ## olympics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Sage Kotsenburg Takes First U.S. Gold by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 8, 2014 2:43 PM CUT  Winner Sage Kotsenburg of the U.S. celebrates after the men's snowboard slopestyle final competition at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games in Rosa Khutor, Feb. 8, 2014. Winner Sage Kotsenburg of the U.S. celebrates after the men's snowboard slopestyle final competition at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games in Rosa Khutor, Feb. 8, 2014.Mike Blake / Reuters by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 8, 2014 2:43 PM CUT The first gold medal of the winter 2014 Olympics has been won by snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg for his first-place [finish](http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/sochi/2014/02/08/sochi-2014-winter-olympics-slopestyle-snowboarding-sage-kotsenburg/5307807/ "undefined") Saturday in men’s slopestyle snowboarding. The long-haired Utahan, 20, was the third rider of 12 in the slopestyle final, and took the gold after an inventive run that involved landing a trick he’d never done before, USA Today reports. “It’s pretty sick to see that some weird, creative stuff got rewarded,” Kotsenburg said. The difficult course attracted controversy when Team USA superstar Shaun White [pulled out](http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2014/02/05/winter-olympics-2014-shaun-white-withdraws-slopestyle/ "undefined") of the event citing safety concerns, leaving the field open for contenders like Kotsenburg, as well as Norway’s Staale Sandbech (silver) and Canada’s Mark McMorris (bronze). \[[USA Today](http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/sochi/2014/02/08/sochi-2014-winter-olympics-slopestyle-snowboarding-sage-kotsenburg/5307807/ "undefined")\] _More: Highlights From The Opening Ceremony in Sochi_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6085/winter-olympics-2014-sage-kotsenburg-gold-slopestyle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6085/winter-olympics-2014-sage-kotsenburg-gold-slopestyle/"},"headline":"Sage Kotsenburg Takes First U.S. Gold","datePublished":"2014-02-08T14:43:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:21:35.322Z","description":"Snowboarder wins slopestyle event after Shaun White's withdrawal","url":"https://time.com/6085/winter-olympics-2014-sage-kotsenburg-gold-slopestyle/","keywords":["olympics","Winter Olympics","Sochi","2014 Sochi Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte86e88cc067b8b27/6986827913c79fb2b5190b4d/2014-02-08t104937z_1247071971_lm2ea2801.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte86e88cc067b8b27/6986827913c79fb2b5190b4d/2014-02-08t104937z_1247071971_lm2ea2801.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Winner Kotsenburg of the U.S. celebrates after the men's snowboard slopestyle final competition at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games in Rosa Khutor","caption":"Winner Kotsenburg of the U.S. celebrates after the men's snowboard slopestyle final competition at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games in Rosa Khutor","creditText":"Mike Blake / Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/olympics/","name":"olympics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6085/winter-olympics-2014-sage-kotsenburg-gold-slopestyle/","name":"Sage Kotsenburg Takes First U.S. Gold"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Best Moments From The Opening Ceremony in Sochi","description":"Highlights from Sochi","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Pf3Ngwb5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-02-08T15:21:03.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Pf3Ngwb5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6085/winter-olympics-2014-sage-kotsenburg-gold-slopestyle/","duration":"PT4M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6085/winter-olympics-2014-sage-kotsenburg-gold-slopestyle/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```