PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – Before 11:30 a.m. local time, the most precious metal grasped by a member of the Gerard family on Sunday was aluminum. Around their clan 18 strong was the detritus of a morning well-spent: emptied-and-crushed cans of Cass Light, Fitz and even a Budweiser, consumed to ease their nerves and celebrate their fortunes. Atop the slopestyle course at Phoenix Snow Park stood Red Gerard, the 17-year-old waif, their son, brother and cousin. Soon enough, he would add to that list another title: American Olympic star.

To the Gerards, all of this felt positively preordained, that those days watching him trundle down a hill as a 2-year-old or shred at 6 or hit magazines at 10 or bop around the rails in his backyard course at 13 were pieces of a prophecy. That he was special. Which is an unkind anchor to hang on any kid, though Red Gerard, who is a lot of things, is not just any kid.

He is a free spirit and an inveterate flirt and a bit of a weasel on the snow, snaking his 5-foot-5, 115-pound frame in and around those who dare to share it with him. And now he is an Olympic gold medalist, too, disregarding a blundered pair of runs to stomp his third and final try and take home the United States’ first medal of the PyeongChang Games.

The medal is not his alone. It is that of Conrad and Jen Gerard, who moved from Rocky River, Ohio, just outside Cleveland, to Colorado when Red was 8 and allowed him the opportunity to immerse himself in powder. It belongs, too, to Creighton and Trevor and Brendan and Tieghan and Malachi and Asher Gerard, ages 32 to 9, the brothers and sisters who never made a big family feel outsized. And it’s also for the American snowboarding community that saw a wildly talented tyke with hair that wasn’t quite as flaming as Shaun White’s but gingery enough to match his name and made certain to take care of him and not allow the perils of the prodigy to ensnare him.

He was, and still is in many regards, a kid – worldlier than most because of his travels and profession, still blind to all the things he doesn’t know. He epitomizes the cord-cutting smartphone generation, which doesn’t see the made-for-TV Olympics quite like its predecessors.

“I just didn’t really think I knew what the Olympics is,” Gerard said. “I kind of grew up just watching Dew Tour and X Games. I’d never really realized how big it is.”

View photos Red Gerard, of the United States, smiles after winning Olympic gold in the men’s slopestyle final. (AP) More

The size revealed itself during the Opening Ceremonies and continued at a course perfectly suited for Gerard. Slopestyle combines three rail-laden features at the top that encourage flair with three jumps that emphasize spinning, flipping and amplitude. American Sage Kotsenburg won inaugural gold in Sochi with superior style. Gerard proved a worthy heir due in large part to his worthy air.

On one feature, he flew over a rail, a route none of the other 11 competitors in the finals took. On another feature, he hit a pair of rails, giving him extra style points. “He’s a very creative rider,” said Max Parrot, a Canadian rider. “Always taking a line nobody does, like he did today.”

Style alone wouldn’t have been enough for gold. After landing a switch backside 1260 on his first jump – he went into it leading with his opposite foot and spun backward – Gerard hit a trick that almost certainly won him gold. In addition to standard straightforward jumps, a quarter-pipe was built into the hill. Gerard was the only rider to use it, and his double-flipping, triple-twisting jump off it was immaculate. When Gerard finished with a backside triple cork 1440, spinning four times with three off-axis flips, he figured a medal possible.

He stood at the bottom of the hill, awaiting his score. “Oh my God,” he said. “I’m so scared.” Two seconds later, it popped onto the screen next to the course: 87.16, which put him in the lead. Gerard peered at the number. He processed it. He leaned in, then back. He put his hands on his goggles.

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