Jacobellis DQ'd in snowboard cross; Canada's Ricker wins

WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Veering off course, Lindsey Jacobellis raised her arms in the air, clasped her hands across her helmet, looked around for a second and saw nobody there.

No one to blame but herself.

Once again.

She will head home empty-handed. Without the Olympic gold medal she gave away last time. Without any medal at all after a slip-up that gave Canada's Maelle Ricker a clear path to the gold Tuesday and reminded everyone that, yes, anything can happen in the unpredictable world of snowboard cross.

Early in her semifinal race, while in tight quarters with Ricker, Jacobellis lost her bearings on a jump, wobbled and skittered to try to regain her balance, but bashed into the outside of a gate.

Disqualified.

The most decorated, successful and dominant rider in the world didn't even make the medal round.

"I do so many competitions a year," Jacobellis said, coming in for an interview more than an hour after the race. "It's unfortunate the rest of the world only sees this race, or four years ago. So I guess I don't have a great track record for the general public."

Four years ago in Turin, she was alone in the lead, the gold medal all but hanging around her neck, when she celebrated by shooting over the second-to-last jump while doing a method grab - a fancy grab of the board that left her on her back, in shock, needing to gather herself and get across the line to salvage the silver.

After being eliminated much farther up the hill this time, Jacobellis looped back onto the course to get to the finish. Riding alone, and knowing everyone was watching, she did a much safer grab with both hands.

She stuck the landing this time. Hard to send a message, though, when you're coming down in last place.

"I just felt like doing a nice, fun truck-driver grab, and that's the spirit that it is," she said. "I mean, it's a bummer, but then it came off and I was like, 'Still can have some fun in some way.' "

The real fun, though, was saved for Ricker, who easily defeated Deborah Anthonioz of France in the final. Olivia Nobs of Switzerland won the bronze. It was the second gold medal for Canada.

"I don't know what happened to Lindsey in the semifinals," said Ricker, who crashed and suffered a concussion at the Turin Games. "We both had a really close start going into the first and second corner, and I don't know what happened."