Lindsay H. Jones

USA TODAY Sports

Bowman was nearly flawless in her winning run%2C scoring an 89.00

France%27s Marie Martinod took silver%2C and Japan%27s Ayana Onozuka took bronze

Six of the 11 skiers fell at least once

KRASNAYA POLYAYA, Russia – Lorna Prepall unzipped her navy blue and red jacket, pulled aside the American flag scarf she had draped around her head and neck, and revealed perhaps the greatest T-Shirt in the history of Olympic T-Shirts.

Across the chest, below an American flag, in big, bold white letters, it said "Badass Grandma."

So now we know exactly where Maddie Bowman, America's newest gold medalist, gets it from.

Bowman, a 20-year-old from South Lake Tahoe, Calif., won the first Olympic gold medal in women's freeski halfpipe Thursday night, putting down the two highest scoring runs of the night. Her second run, which included two 900 spins and a backwards 700, scored 89.00.

France's Marie Martinod took silver (85.40), and Japan's Ayana Onozuka took bronze (83.20).

Bowman's win completes an American sweep of gold in the debut of freeski halfpipe after David Wise of Reno won the men's competition on Tuesday.

"The way I've gotten here is taking it one day and one competition at a time and having absolutely as much fun as I could, and hey, it worked out," Bowman said.

Three of Bowman's American teammates joined her in the final, but each fell at least once and failed to make the podium.

But this was a night when the medals seemed to hardly matter, even to the women who won them. The women in this contest hoped for years to see their sport included in the Olympics, and no one worked harder than Canada's Sarah Burke, who died in a training accident on Jan. 19, 2012.

"Sarah has inspired us on snow and off snow, and she would have been very proud of how all of the girls rode tonight. I sure hope that I and everyone else made her proud, because we would have not been here without her," Bowman said.

Martinod was about to retire but kept skiing because Burke wanted her to compete in the Olympics. She painted silver snowflakes on her fingernails as a tribute to Burke because IOC rules wouldn't allow her to wear a sticker on helmet or a band on her arm.

"I'm thinking of Sarah every day. I'm thinking I didn't say goodbye to Sarah yet. Now I think I can do it because she asked me to do what she told me to do when I last saw her two years ago," Martinod said. "I think I'm able to say goodbye right now."

Bowman's teammates Brita Sigourney (sixth), Annalisa Drew (ninth) and Angeli Vanlaanen (11th) each crashed in finals.

Sigourney had posted the second-best score in qualifying, and skied after Bowman in the finals. She was able to finish her second run, but after a botched landing in the middle of it, she knew she hadn't won. She skied right into Bowman's arms.

"She's so funny. She said that she wanted me to win and that she's so proud of me. I told her to shut up because she deserves this more than anyone," Sigourney said. "It was the most technical run out of any girl skiing. It's more technical than any run any girl has done all year, plus it's got amplitude and style, she's just got it all."