Taylor Gold competes at the U.S. Grand Prix on Dec. 12, 2019 in Copper Mountain, Colo.
At Saturday’s halfpipe snowboarding world cup competition in Laax, Switzerland, Taylor Gold made sure his second run counted.
Gold, a 2014 Olympian, nailed the run, landing a cab 1080 and tail grab 1260 to capture a third-place finish with a score of 87.00.
The dramatic finish gave Gold his first podium finish in nearly five years in world cup competition. His last world cup podium finish came in March 2015, when he finished second in Park City, Utah.
Scotty James of Australia won the event with a first run of 95.75. Yuto Totsuka of Japan was second with a score of 92.25.
Gold was among five Americans in the finals after placing third in the qualifying round. Chase Blackwell finished sixth and Jason Wolle was seventh, followed by Toby Miller in ninth place and Ryan Wachendorfer in 10th.
Rebounding from a score of 16.00 and a fall in his first run, Gold perfected his second run, nailing a trick at the end of the run to ensure a high score. His run was the best of the 12 finalists in their second runs.
Gold and his sister, Arielle, made their Olympic debuts in 2014 in Sochi. Taylor finished 14th in his Olympic debut and has battled injuries since then, including a broken kneecap as well as shoulder injuries that kept him out of the running for a spot on the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team. He had won his first X Games medal in 2017.
Gold finished 15th in the 2019-20 season-opening competition at Copper Mountain.
The next halfpipe world cup is the U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain, California, on Jan. 29 and 31.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
