U.S. wins gold in women's halfpipe

SALT LAKE CITY -- Old school, meet the new school.\nSnowboarder Kelly Clark, in an Olympic event that's all of 4 years old, soared above the halfpipe course to win America's first Winter Games gold on a day when other countries snapped decades-old winless streaks in more traditional sports.\nClark nailed her final run on Sunday to give the United States its first victory in its first hometown Winter Olympics since 1980 -- three years before the 18-year-old snowboarder was born.\nShe was cheered wildly by the partisan crowd, which included three barechested men in the freezing weather, the letters "U-S-A" painted across their chests. Guns 'n Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" blared as she launched her high-flying, dominating performance.\nDoriane Vidal of France won the silver and Fabienne Reuteler of Switzerland won the bronze.\nThe halfpipe debuted as an Olympic event at Nagano in 1998, where America's Shannon Dunn took a bronze medal.\nIn two days in Salt Lake City, the Americans -- who hope to capture 20 medals, the most ever for a U.S. winter team -- had one gold and two silver medals.\nEarlier, Swiss skier Simon Ammann returned from injury and soared to victory in the 90-meter ski jump -- the first Swiss ski jumping medal since 1972.\nThat was hardly much of a streak compared to the 54-year stretch of Finnish futility that Samppa Lajunen ended with his gold medal in the Nordic combined.\nThe nine gold medals awarded so far have gone to nine different countries, an Olympic sharing of the wealth. Austria, with five total medals, was atop the medals chart.\nMEN'S DOWNHILL \nIn one of the games' traditionally glamourous events, tradition was served as Austrian Fritz Strobl -- long overshadowed by more illustrious Austrian teammates -- swept to the gold medal.\nHe became the sixth Austrian to win the downhill in the 15 races since Alpine skiing debuted in 1948, although the first in a decade.\n"It's sensational," said Strobl, a 29-year-old police officer who had never won a medal in a major competition. "I didn't expect it. I was just thinking of racing down the course, not of winning"