Winter Olympics: Snowboarder From W. Bloomfield Twists Into Games

UPDATE: Red Gerard, a 17-year-old born in Cleveland's western suburbs, has won the United States' first gold medal of the PyeongChang Olympics in men's slopestyle snowboarding. In the final round, he bounced from 11th place and into the lead with a dramatic run.

Canadians Max Parrot and Mark McMorris won silver and bronze medals, respectively. Gerard's score of 87.16 edged Parrot, who had a final score of 86.00. McMorris had a score of 85.20 in his second run.

Gerard's final run included a switch backside 1260 and a backside triple cork 1440. (Watch a video of his gold medal-winning run at NBC Sports.)

WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI – Kyle Mack learned to snowboard on the slopes of northern Michigan. This weekend, he will put those talents on display for a global audience when he competes in the slopestyle snowboard competition at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

At 20 years old, this is Mack's first Olympic Games. The snowboarder won the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain in California, and joined Chris Corning of Silverthorn, Colorado, and Red Gerard of Rocky River, Ohio, on the combined slopestyle and big air Olympic team.

Mack began competing at 7 years old and by 15 he landed the first-ever frontside triple rodeo 1440 at the O'Neill Evolution in 2013. (And, in case you're wondering what a "frontside triple rodeo 1440" is, see the video below.) He won bronze medals in both the big air and slopestyle events at the 2015 world championships in Kreischberg, Austria.

Mack's Olympic debut will be on Saturday in the qualifying heats of the slopestyle snowboarding competition. The final rounds (and medal presentation) will be on Sunday, Feb. 11. He also will compete in the big air competition, with qualifying heats on Wednesday, Feb. 21, and final rounds (and medal presentation) on Saturday, Feb. 24.

Watch Kyle Mack complete the frontside triple rodeo 1440 below:

Here’s where to find the daily Olympics schedule of when athletes in Michigan compete, and here’s where to find results.

File photo by Clive Mason / Getty Images Staff