Pierre Vaultier WINS GOLD Snowboard Men's Cross 2014 Sochi Winter

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Pierre Vaultier of France held off hard-charging Nikolay Olyunin of Russia to win gold in men's Olympic snowboardcross on Tuesday. Vaultier fended off several advances by Olyunin in the final, drawing clear over the final jumps to victory. The 26-year-old Vaultier won all four of his races in the midst of a steady drizzle that created plenty of the chaos — the signature of snowboarding's answer to auto racing. Alex Deibold of the U.S. grabbed bronze after narrowly edging teammate Trevor Jacob in the semifinals. The event was pushed back a day due to heavy fog, with officials modifying the format to cancel the seedings run and go straight to the elimination rounds.Nate Holland didn't crash, but the American medal hopeful didn't make it out of the first round of races. Holland, who won his seventh Winter X Games gold medal in the event last month, was running second in his 1/8 final to Jacob when he lost momentum on a bad landing. Only the top three riders in each heat moved on to the quarterfinals. A fourth American, Nick Baumgartner, was also eliminated before the quarters. Kevin Hill was the only one of four Canadian competitors to make it as far as the semifinals but he crashed after Spain's Lucas Eguibar clipped the back of his board. Jake Holden, Christopher Robanske and Robert Fagan were also in the field. France's Paul-Henri De Le Rue, Norway's Stian Sivertzen and Italy's Luca Matteotti finished behind Deibold in that order in the big final. Eguibar won the small final to finish in seventh place.Kevin Hill was the only one of four Canadian competitors to make it as far as the semifinals but he crashed after Spain's Lucas Eguibar clipped the back of his board. Jake Holden, Christopher Robanske and Robert Fagan were also in the field. France's Paul-Henri De Le Rue, Norway's Stian Sivertzen and Italy's Luca Matteotti finished behind Deibold in that order in the big final. Eguibar won the small final to finish in seventh place. American Seth Wescott had won the first two Olympic men's snowboard cross gold medals, but didn't compete this time.