Lindsey Jacobellis becomes oldest world championships medalist in snowboard cross

Lindsey Jacobellis
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Lindsey Jacobellis became the oldest world championships medalist in snowboard cross, one year after becoming the oldest individual Olympic medalist and gold medalist in all of snowboarding.

Jacobellis, 37, took bronze at worlds in Bakuriani, Georgia, on Wednesday. Czech Eva Adamczyková (née Samková) earned her second world title, while Australian Josie Baff, who was two years from being born when Jacobellis made her X Games debut in 2001, bagged silver.

“I was really excited after training because I was putting down some really great times. The only thing is everyone can then study your lines!” Jacobellis said with a laugh, according to U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “I was really excited to be able to get on the podium here, it’s always a big challenge just to make it into finals, so I’m very happy with myself.”

Jacobellis made her first podium of any kind since sweeping the individual and Olympic team golds last February. In four World Cups in the last year, her best finish was fifth.

Jacobellis added to her unparalleled record in major championships.

She owns 16 individual gold medals and 19 individual medals overall among the biennial world championships (the last in 2017), the annual X Games, which stopped holding snowboard cross competitions after 2016, and the Olympics.

Her five career world championships gold medals in snowboard cross were already a record for total medals of any color in a single snowboard event at worlds.

If Jacobellis continues through 2026, she can break the U.S. female record of five Winter Olympic appearances that she shares with four others, according to Olympedia.org.

In Wednesday’s men’s snowboard cross at worlds, Austrian Jakob Dusek prevailed over German Martin Nörl and Italian Omar Visintin. Olympic champion Alessandro Hämmerle of Austria was last in the four-man final.

The top American men were Nick Baumgartner and Senna Leith, who were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Mick Dierdorff, a two-time U.S. Olympian who won the 2019 World title, raced for the last time in his career at age 31.

Peacock airs live coverage of the world freestyle skiing and snowboarding championships. The next finals are Friday’s men’s and women’s snowboard halfpipe.

Lindsey Jacobellis
20th — 2001 X Games
21st — 2002 X Games
Gold — 2003 X Games
Gold — 2004 X Games
Gold — 2005 Worlds
Gold — 2005 X Games
*** Skipped 2006 X Games
Silver — 2006 Olympics
Silver — 2007 X Games
Gold — 2007 Worlds
Gold — 2008 X Games
Gold — 2009 X Games
*** Skipped 2009 Worlds
Gold — 2010 X Games
Fifth — 2010 Olympics
Gold — 2011 Worlds
Gold — 2011 X Games
*** Tore ACL/meniscus in 2012 X Games training run
Gold — 2014 X Games
Seventh — 2014 Olympics
Gold — 2015 Worlds
Gold — 2015 X Games
Gold — 2016 X Games
Gold — 2017 Worlds
Fourth — 2018 Olympics
Fifth — 2019 Worlds
Ninth — 2021 Worlds
Gold — 2022 Olympics
Bronze — 2023 Worlds

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Snowboarders sue coach, USOPC in assault, harassment case

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Olympic bronze medalist Rosey Fletcher has filed a lawsuit accusing former snowboard coach Peter Foley of sexually assaulting, harassing and intimidating members of his team for years, while the organizations overseeing the team did nothing to stop it.

Fletcher is a plaintiff in one of two lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday. One names Foley, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team and its former CEO, Tiger Shaw, as defendants. Another, filed by a former employee of USSS, names Foley, Shaw and the ski federation as defendants.

One of the lawsuits, which also accuse the defendants of sex trafficking, harassment, and covering up repeated acts of sexual assault and misconduct, allege Foley snuck into bed and sexually assaulted Fletcher, then shortly after she won her bronze medal at the 2006 Olympics, approached her “and said he still remembered ‘how she was breathing,’ referring to the first time he assaulted her.”

The lawsuits describe Foley as fostering a depraved travel squad of snowboarders, in which male coaches shared beds with female athletes, crude jokes about sexual conquests were frequently shared and coaches frequently commented to the female athletes about their weight and body types.

“Male coaches, including Foley, would slap female athletes’ butts when they finished their races, even though the coaches would not similarly slap the butts of male athletes,” the lawsuit said. “Physical assault did not stop with slapping butts. Notably, a female athlete once spilled barbeque sauce on her chest while eating and a male coach approached her and licked it off her chest without warning or her consent.”

The USOPC and USSS knew of Foley’s behavior but did nothing to stop it, the lawsuit said. It depicted Foley as an all-powerful coach who could make and break athletes’ careers on the basis of how they got along off the mountain.

Foley’s attorney, Howard Jacobs, did not immediately return requests for comment from The Associated Press. Jacobs has previously said allegations of sexual misconduct against Foley are false.

In a statement, the USOPC said it had not seen the complaint and couldn’t comment on specific details but that “we take every allegation of abuse very seriously.”

“The USOPC is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of Team USA athletes, and we are taking every step to identify, report, and eliminate abuse in our community,” the statement said.

It wasn’t until the Olympics in Beijing last year that allegations about Foley’s behavior and the culture on the snowboarding team started to emerge.

Allegations posted on Instagram by former team member Callan Chythlook-Sifsof — who, along with former team member Erin O’Malley, is a plaintiff along with Fletcher — led to Foley’s removal from the team, which he was still coaching when the games began.

That posting triggered more allegations in reporting by ESPN and spawned an AP report about how the case was handled between USSS and the U.S. Center for SafeSport, which is ultimately responsible for investigating cases involving sex abuse in Olympic sports. The center has had Foley on temporary suspension since March 18, 2022.

The AP typically does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault unless they have granted permission or spoken publicly, as Fletcher, Chythlook-Sifsof and O’Malley have done through a lawyer.

USSS said it was made aware of the allegations against Foley on Feb 6, 2022, and reported them to the SafeSport center.

“We are aware of the lawsuits that were filed,” USSS said in a statement. “U.S. Ski & Snowboard has not yet been served with the complaint nor has had an opportunity to fully review it. U.S. Ski & Snowboard is and will remain an organization that prioritizes the safety, health and well-being of its athletes and staff.”

The lawsuits seek unspecified damages to be determined in a jury trial.

Peter Foley, longtime U.S. snowboard coach, no longer with U.S. Ski and Snowboard

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Peter Foley, the founding coach of the U.S. snowboard team in 1994 and a longtime coach of the snowboard cross program, is no longer with U.S. Ski and Snowboard.

As of last Sunday, “Peter Foley is no longer employed by U.S. Ski and Snowboard,” the organization said in a statement. “Mr. Foley has been on a leave of absence since February 21, 2022.”

Rob Fagen was named interim head coach while a search is on for a new snowboard cross head coach.

U.S. Ski and Snowboard did not say why Foley, its 2021 Coach of the Year in snowboarding, was no longer with the program, nor why he was on a leave of absence.

Last Friday, Foley was issued a temporary suspension by the U.S. Center for SafeSport due to allegations of misconduct that it did not specify. The center opened in 2017 to handle harassment and other abuse allegations inside U.S. sports.

During last month’s Olympics, U.S. Ski and Snowboard was investigating allegations that Foley took naked pictures of female athletes and that Olympic snowboard cross rider Hagen Kearney used racist language to provoke a teammate in 2014.

Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, a retired 2010 Olympian, wrote in a February Instagram post that in addition to taking the photos, Foley had made inappropriate comments, and that Kearney repeatedly used the N-word to “intentionally get under my skin.”

Chythlook-Sifsof is from Alaska and describes herself as Yupik and Inupiaq.

Nine days before Foley was put on leave, U.S. Ski & Snowboard released a statement during the Games that said it “takes all allegations seriously. Peter Foley remains as U.S. Snowboardcross team head coach while all recent allegations are being investigated.”

Foley said during the Games that he was surprised by the allegations in a text to The Associated Press.

“I vehemently deny the allegations,” he continued. “I’m doing my best to concentrate on supporting the athletes at the Olympics.”

Kearney posted on Instagram during the Olympics that he faced expulsion from the team after the episode with Chythlook-Sifsof, and apologized shortly after.

“I did not have the same head on my shoulders back then as I do now and Callan was a huge part of me changing and growing as a human,” Kearney said.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in a statement during the Olympics: “We take all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously and follow protocols to ensure it is reported and managed properly.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.