After escaping disaster in the snowboard cross qualifying round, U.S. snowboarder Nick Baumgartner tore down Vancouver's Cyprus Mountain Monday with hopes of staying in contention for a medal.
His qualifying time of 1:22.64 was just more than a second behind leader Alex Pullin of Australia. After the qualifying round, Baumgarter sat in a four-way tie for 7th place and earned a birth in the 1/8 finals.
In the 1/8 finals, Baumgartner's hopes for an Olympic medal were dashed as a crash dropped him to 20th place, not good enough to advance to the 1/4 finals. Baumgartner was not injured.
Heading into Olympic competition, Baumgartner, 28, was ranked fifth in the Word Championship snowboard standings. He finished third in the 2009 World Championships.
Baumgartner said he had high hopes for the 2010 Winter Games.
"I came here for the gold," Baumgartner said between qualifying runs. "I am definitely taking the experience in. But the gold is what I worked so hard for. I set a goal four years ago.
This story is developing.
Subscribe to e-mail alerts HERE.
Follow Jim Hagerty Twitter.
Comments