Canada, specifically Mark McMorris, was favored to achieve gold in Men’s Slopestyle in Sochi, Russia, but that was not the case.

Mark McMorris won the bronze medal while American Sage Kotsenburg won gold and Norwegian Staale Sandbech won silver.

Canadians Mark McMorris and Max Parrot were in first and second place after the qualification round, but American Sage Kotsenburg decided to steal the show.

Sage jumped right in, securing first place on his first run in the finals with his signature move, the “Holy Crail.”

Sage was not a favorite to win a gold, and since he barely made it into the finals it was a surprise to most people that he held on to first place.

“I was, because he seemed to be overlooked by everyone and barely making it into the finals,” said Antioch Community High School junior and avid snowboarder Grant Hackeloer. “But the amount of style he had, everyone could tell it was a great run.”

It is a hard fight to be placed on the podium, and Kotsenburg, Sandbech and McMorris got to stand on it. Since Kotsenburg and McMorris scores were very close, if Sandbech would have gotten just a little higher of a score or lower of a score, he could have easily been sitting in first or third place.

In the end of this competition, the American Kotsenburg deserved to wear the gold metal and hear the crowd chant “USA!”