Seth Wescott wins Snowboard Gold

Snowboardcross event sees exciting finish as Wescott comes from last place to snatch gold

It was an incredible comeback. Thirty-two-year-old snowboarder Seth Wescott from Maine, New England, had gone from last place to snatch gold from right under the noses of his competitor.

It was one of the most nailbiting competitions the Vancouver Winter Olympics has so far seen. The snowboardcross event - in which a group of boarders start at the top of an inclined course then race to reach the finish - saw Wescott slip past Canadian snowboarder Mike Robertson late in the race before sliding across the finish line.

Earlier on he was some distance from Robertson, but persistence - and what he later said were his 'tactics' - paid off. It was the course, he said, which allowed him to hang back before taking his opportunity to pass just before the finish.

Afterwards, as he had done four years ago when he also won gold in the same event, he wrapped himself in the military flag that had belonged to his late grandfather in WWII. It's now become Wescott's tradition.

One writer in Vancouver described the event as 'NASCAR on ice' - one of the hottest tickets that he said had become even more exclusive when officials axed the standing-room tickets and offered refunds to would-be spectators after they deemed the area unsafe due to rain.