By Sal Ruibal, USA TODAY

VANCOUVER Seth Wescott came to the Vancouver Games as the overwhelming favorite to repeat as Olympic men's snowboard cross champion, but it took a series of nail-biting comebacks for the 33-year-old rider from Sugarbush Mountain, Maine, to secure his second gold medal.

His morning in Vancouver didn't start well when he finished 17th out of 32 qualifiers after two individual time trials on a fast and furious course on Cypress Mountain.
In snowboard cross, a rider's position in qualifying determines the quality of his competition in later four-man heats plus the selection of start gate. Most riders prefer the two inside starting spots for gaining the all-important 'hole shot.'
"The trials didn't go so well, so I knew I would be fighting from the bad gate," he said.
In his first heat, he had to battle with top-seed Alex Pullin of Austria, the fastest man in qualifying. He stayed calm and waited for his moment, which came when Pullin lost control and crashed out of contention.
In the quarterfinals, his quartet included U.S. teammate and 2010 X Games champion Nate Holland. Wescott won the heat but Holland also advanced as a top-two rider.
Holland had the top hand in the semifinals, with Wescott close behind. The Americans would face Canadian Mike Robertson and France's Tony Ramoin.
With thousands of scarlet-clad Canadian fans rocking the snowboard stadium, the final four lined up, with only three assured of a medal.
From the roaring start, Holland and Robertson were battling at the front. But Holland spun on a corner and the Canadian zoomed to a 20-yard lead. Wescott seemed to be finally finished.
"I had a bad start in the final," Wescott said. "But you can't let that get to you."
All day, he had been troubled by some artificially illuminated flat-light sections that hid bumps and grooves gouged in previous heats.
"I can't see," he said. "All my mistakes were committing to the turns."
Time and distance were running out as the riders approached the final turn. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Wescott closed the gap by pumping energy from a small rise on the apex of a turn. He squeezed past Robertson as they rounded the corner, headed for the huge and high kicker jump that overlooked the finishing area.
"I've been riding as fast as anyone else in the world," he said after the finish. "When you get to a pressure situation it gives you a different level of motivation just to be patient ... and find the passes on the lower part of the course and execute the turns better to get by people. It worked."

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