KRANSNAYA POLYANA, Russia, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Despite the withdrawal of Shawn White, the United States claimed the first gold medal of the Sochi Winter Olympics on Saturday, as Sage Kotsenburg took the men's snowboard slopestyle title with 93.50 points.
Staale Sandbech of Norway took the silver with 91.75 ppoints and X Games champion Mark McMorris from Canada bagged the bronze at 88.75.
The 20-year-old American had to compete in the morning's semifinal in order to qualify for the final, but he threw down an amazing first run in the final round with 93.50, the best score of the final.
"I'm really excited," said Kotsenburg. "It feels awesome. I don't know what to call it. I have no idea what's actually going on. This is the craziest thing that ever happened."
McMorris, a gold medal favorite going into the event, fell on the landing of his final jump in the first run of the final and scored only 33.75 points. He recovered soon and put on a strong second run to land on the podium.
Maxence Parrot of Canada, top in qualifying, finished fifth.
The slopestyle, as an Olympic Winter Games event for the first time, was missing its top athlete Shaun White, who pulled out early this week to focus on winning a third consecutive gold medal in the halfpipe competition.