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Jamie Anderson didn’t win Monday’s women’s slopestyle final to retain her Olympic title so much as survive it on a day that will remembered for hazardous cross-winds that at times made a mockery of the competition.

Anderson’s first run, dialed back by her standards, posted a score of 83.00 and was enough on a blustery morning at the Phoenix Snow Park that saw only five of 25 finalists make it through their opening attempt without a fall.

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The windswept carnage continued on the second run when only four competitors made it through unscathed with all but eight wiping out completely. Two of them, Canada’s Laurie Bloun (76.33) and Finland’s Enni Rukajärvi (75.38), posted scores that earned them silver and bronze respectively.

“I’m feeling so happy,” Anderson said. “I’ve gone through so much this last year just preparing for the Games and defending the gold is definitely not an easy position to be in.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jamie Anderson won slopestyle gold at a second straight Olympics on Monday morning. Photograph: Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images

“The conditions were not ideal but it changes so quick. When we were practising and even earlier this morning when we all got there, it was really bad and they did delay it and did their best. I think there’s a lot of mixed feelings.

“I just kind of tried to stay in my zone, stay optimistic. I knew there was wind, obviously, but who knows when there’s not going to be wind. I think we talked about maybe running in a couple of days, when it may have been calmer. I was kind of down for whatever. I just try to keep it neutral and let the officials make the call.”

The event had been modified from its standard format after high winds forced the cancellation of Sunday afternoon’s two-run qualifying stage, which typically narrows the field to 12 finalists for a three-run final. Instead, a total of 25 entrants competed in Monday morning’s two-run final with the best score counting towards their final position.

The oppressive conditions delayed the start of the final by more than an hour, but organizers chose to push forward after Sunday’s washout, a decision that did not sit well with some competitors.

Austria’s Anna Gasser, who entered among the favorites but finished 15th on Monday, decried it as a “lottery” and blasted the International Skiing Federation (FIS) for allowing it to go forward.

“I don’t think it was a fair competition and I’m a little disappointed in the organization that they pulled through with it,” Gasser said. “From my point of view I think it was not a good show for women’s snowboarding. For me, a competition should be fair, especially on that stage.”

She added: “So many people got hurt because of the wind already. I have to say thanks to the girls who made it work. Jamie and Laurie and Enni also, they deserved the medals but also there were a lot of other favorites who had only bad luck. Not talking about myself, there were a lot of other people that I think they could have showed their best riding and today they couldn’t.”

Great Britain’s Aimee Fuller, who finished 17th, described her feelings as “absolutely devastated” after she was thrown off balance by the wind on the final jump of her second run.

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“I don’t feel like I had a fair shot at putting down my best run, the wind just took me sideways on the last hit,” Fuller said. “Some girls were lucky. I think today was a matter of luck and the strong riders definitely showed. But at the end of the day not even the top riders have necessarily landed the best runs. I think it’s not the best show of women’s slopestyle at all.”

The FIS issued a statement in the aftermath of Monday’s competition attributing the decision to “a contingency plan put in place during the team captains meeting on Saturday (10 February), as agreed upon by the jury and the team representatives.”



It further clarified in a later statement that the safety of riders was its foremost concern. “The first priority is the safety of the athletes and FIS would never stage a competition if this could not be assured,” the second statement read. “The FIS Jury monitored the weather conditions closely throughout the day, including consulting with the coaches, and considered it was within the boundaries to stage the competition safely.”

In the end Anderson’s gold-winning first run, which included a backside 540, cab underflip and frontside 720, was more than enough to earn the United States’ second snowboard slopestyle title at these Olympics after Red Gerard’s triumph in the men’s event on Sunday morning.

Americans have accounted for all four golds awarded since the discipline was added to the Olympic program four years ago with Anderson and Sage Kotsenburg having won the inaugural titles in Sochi.