At Torino 2006, while she was in the lead for almost the entire final, on the second to last jump she pulled off a backside air, lost her balance and fell, letting Swiss Tanja Frieden win gold.

"This feels incredible because this level that all the women are riding at is a lot higher than it was 16 years ago. So I felt like I was a winner just that I made it into finals, because that's been a challenge every time," said Jacobellis.

"All these ladies out here have the potential to win and today it just worked out for me that my starts were good, that my gliding was great, and everything just worked for me today," she added.

As one of the most dangerous events of the Winter Olympics, snowboard cross is always accompanied with accidents and injuries. Vendula Hopjakova from the Czech Republic fell down and slid out of the course in the seventh group run of the round of 16 after a board collision with Paul Kristina from the Russian Olympic Committee.