Podcast: But just how did Red Gerard do it? U.S. snowboarder Dylan Thomas carefully breaks down the gold medal run | SummitDaily.com
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Podcast: But just how did Red Gerard do it? U.S. snowboarder Dylan Thomas carefully breaks down the gold medal run

Sports Sports |

Antonio Olivero
  

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While meticulously talking through each step that combined into Red Gerard’s Olympic gold medal slopestyle run in South Korea, U.S. snowboarder Dylan Thomas summed up how it happened.

“You know,” Thomas said, “Red has the perfect mindset for this kind of course.”

LISTEN: U.S. snowboarder Dylan Thomas of Breckenridge breaks down Red Gerard’s Olympic gold medal slopestyle run

Thomas would know. The Breckenridge snowboarder has known Gerard for years and competed alongside Gerard throughout the 2018 Team USA Olympic qualifying cycle. The pair even shared the podium at the 2017 Mammoth Mountain California slopestyle/big air qualifier, along with Silverthorne 2018 Olympic snowboarder Kyle Mack, one of Gerard’s best friends.

Gerard took first, Mack took second and Thomas took third at that Feb. 2017 Olympic qualifier.

A year later, after hitting fresh powder at Beaver Creek on Sunday morning, while still in his gear Thomas took the time to chat with the Summit Daily for a half-hour on Sunday afternoon.

And much like many other snowboard and Olympic fans in Gerard’s home of Silverthorne and the rest of Summit County, Thomas was still riding the wave of excitement a day later — the excitement from Gerard’s enthralling gold medal run. After all, Thomas was just like the rest of us Saturday night: glued to the NBC live stream on his computer, stomach full of butterflies for Red before that third and final run.

In this podcast discussion, Thomas explains the details and backstory behind each and every single rail, jib and jump Gerard executed to near-perfection on his final run at Phoenix Snow Park.

He walks us through Gerard’s journey down the inventive Olympic slopestyle course.

The discussion doesn’t miss any details, including from who Gerard hugged and high-fived before his drop-in at the top of the course all the way down to the rowdy rapture of a celebration — the beers-in-hands, smiling scene — for Gerard’s family at the bottom of the course.

So listen at SummitDaily.com for the detailed description from Thomas of just how the 17-year-old Red Gerard became the youngest American male to ever win a gold medal at an individual competition at a Winter Olympics.

To boot, Thomas provides his thoughts on the debut Olympic Big Air competition. It’ll happen at the end of the Games and he shares his thoughts on how and why he thinks Mack and Silverthorne 18-year-old snowboarder Chris Corning will bounce back from failing to qualify for the slopestyle finals.

And, of course, Gerard can’t be counted out either once Big Air rolls around. Because when the Silverthorne trio drops into the Big Air qualifying round at 5:30 p.m. MST on Tuesday Feb. 20, Thomas believes all three will have a shot at Olympic medal glory.

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