Seth Wescott made snowboarding history today by becoming the first to win back-to-back gold medals in any discipline. The racing was exciting from start to finish, but these are what I consider the five most significant subplots to the action.

1.Second place isn't in the spotlight, but it is in the hunt: Seth Wescott has been lurking in the shadows ever since winning a gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics. For the past four years he's been a perennial runner-up in World Cup and X Games competitions. People forget the runner-up and winners get the headlines. But when somebody is finishing on the podium as consistently as Wescott, you can never count them out. He raced very smart Monday. He stayed within himself and let the others make mistakes. He wasn't trying to win the race during the first few features. He played it cool and waited for the perfect moment to take over the lead. That's his experience paying off, and that's why he's now the first snowboarder to win back-to-back gold medals.

2.Conditions aren't ideal, but they are the same for everyone: The conditions at Cypress Mountain are as challenging as everybody expected. But that's never an excuse for losing, since everyone is dealing with the same issues. But the soft conditions made life very difficult for guys in the turns. In good conditions turns are an opportune time to pass, but that clearly wasn't the case Monday. Just surviving the turns was the secret. Most of the heavy favorites who went down early ran into trouble by being too aggressive in the turns. Most of the successful passes came in the flats and over the jumps. That's something Lindsey Jacobellis should consider as she prepares for her races Tuesday.

3. The harder they fall: France's Pierre Vaultier was the most talented snowboardcross rider coming into the Vancouver Games. He has dominated the World Cup circuit this year, which includes many of the riders competing in the Olympics. But in the quarterfinals Monday he made an error trying to pass in the turn and got tangled up with his teammate, Tony Ramoin. After that he was stuck in traffic with very little momentum and his race was done. Nate Holland made a similar error by putting it all on the line in the turns during the final. The five-time X Games winner will have to wait four years to get his shot at Olympic gold.

4.What didn't surprise me: Nate Holland and Pierre Vaultier were the biggest names coming into this event. Call their losses shocking if you want, but they're not surprising. That's the beauty of snowboardcross. It's a heart-pounding sport where anything can happen. Upsets are a way of life. The smallest mistake can cost you, but at the same time, as Wescott showed us in the final, a rider can begin the top section in last place and finish first. I love it.

5. What did surprise me: Frankly, I was blown away with the level of racing Monday. Four years ago there was a pretty significant gap between the top riders and everyone else. Monday, all 32 riders who qualified impressed me. There were very few runaway wins, and I saw a lot of guys step their games up to new levels. Italy's Stefano Pozzolini and Tony Ramoin of France are perfect examples. Their performances are a clear sign of how levels are rising in snowboardcross everywhere. I think this is a direct result of this sport being embraced around the world.

Snowboardcross:
This will be an exciting battle for the men. Naturally, a lot will depend on how the brackets line up, but when the final run goes I expect to see France's Pierre Vaultier and American Seth Wescott battling for gold in the final along with U.S. teammates Nate Holland and Graham Watanabe. Even though he's not exactly a favorite at this point, I'm picking Wescott, the 2006 gold medalist, to surprise everyone and repeat here in Vancouver. Wescott has a way of stepping up in big moments.

On the women's side, I'm confident American Lindsey Jacobellis will bury her famous mistake of the past in style. For the record, I hope she goes for a giant method air again this year while winning just to silence all of the critics once and for all.

Halfpipe:
There's been a lot of talk about a U.S. men's sweep of the medal stand in halfpipe this year, but injuries have had a real impact on the depth of the American squad. The chances of them owning the podium are still real, but definitely more difficult than first thought. At the end of the day I do believe Switzerland's Louri "iPod" Podlactchikov will find his way to the podium. If not him, then Japan's Kazuhiro "Kazu" Kokubo. Both iPod and Kazu made the podium at X Games by riding very well, and I've been really impressed with their performances. This is obviously American Shaun White's event to lose, but should he stumble in the tricky conditions, my upset pick for gold will be Scotty Lago.

As for the women, I'm hearing more and more rumblings of Australia's Torah Bright going for a double cork. If true, she'd be the only women to incorporate it, and if she lands one clean, it's over. Just run up and hand her the gold medal. But if conditions don't provide her the comfort she needs to go for it, this will turn into a real battle, and in that case I'm going to give American and 2002 gold medalist Kelly Clark the edge here, because I think she's got a few tricks up her sleeve.

Parallel Giant Slalom:
The Americans will have a tough time in this discipline, which is dominated by the Europeans. Austria's Benjamin Karl and Andreas Prommegger have been dominating the FIS World Cup circuit, and I see no reason why that won't continue here. But I do expect American Chris Klug to end his Olympic career on the podium. Klug has proven time and again that he has a knack for finding a way.

Shaun White, halfpipe: The Olympic gold medalist of 2006 is arguably the most popular athlete at these games. Shaun White has built an empire since taking over the reigns of the sport. He's certainly the highest paid athlete at the Games. Yet he's as hungry as ever this year. He dominated the U.S. Grand Prix by winning four of the five events, and the single loss didn't sit well with him at all. He went straight back into the training and mastered a new move called the Double McTwist 1260, which he put to use to win the very next event. White is clearly the favorite here to win. Given his untouchable bag of tricks, the only way he can lose is by not sticking a solid run. Of course, that's always possible when conditions are as challenging as they are, but rest assured Shaun will be ready for anything.

Nate Holland, snowboardcross:
Nate Holland just won his fifth straight X Games gold in snowboardcross. That's an amazing feat. But the only gold medal he really cares about at this point is the one he doesn't have: the Olympic gold. Nate will be making a hard push at remedying that situation here in Vancouver, but it won't be easy. He's really going to have to work on getting a better starts. That's his biggest weakness. He can't just rely on his solid gliding and passing abilities to carry him through if he wants to stay ahead of guys like Seth Wescott, who won gold in 2006. Holland has been beating Wescott consistently heading into the Games but Wescott is known for stepping up on large stages. And France's Pierre Vaultier, who's also a dominant player, will be having his say as well.

Torah Bright, halfpipe:
Torah Bright is already the most famous Australian at these Olympic Games. She's been a sensation in the women's halfpipe this season and stands a great chance of becoming a global celebrity if she can keep her recent success rolling. Bright has by far the most technical approach on the women's side. Her backside 360 to the switch McTwist 720 combination is stellar, and though I haven't confirmed it with my own eyes, there's rumors of her pulling off doubles. If so, she'll be the first women to do so, and it would help her lock down a gold medal and break up any U.S. sweep of the podium. However, Bright is recovering from two recent concussions and had to pull out of the recent X Games as a result. So whether or not that will affect her approach heading into Thursday's competition remains to be seen.

Louri Podladtchikov, halfpipe:
Switzerland's Louri Podladtchikov goes by the name "iPod" for obvious reasons, but this guy is the biggest threat to U.S. dominance in the halfpipe competition. He just drilled that point home at the X Games, where he finished second to Shaun White. He looked very comfortable in the spotlight there, so I don't think the pressure is going to get to him. He's coming to Vancouver with everything to gain. If he sticks his moves, I think the U.S. riders will have their hands full because iPod will throw down at least two double corks in his run and a couple 1080s to boot. He's got a lot of flare both on and off stage, too, which tends to help in events like this.


Pierre Vaultier, snowboardcross:
While much of the snowboardcross hype is built around guys like Nate Holland and Lindsey Jacobellis, the truth is France's Pierre Vaultier has been the most dominant rider in the sport this year. He won four of the five World Cup competitions in the lead-up to Vancouver, and finished second the only time he didn't win. Vaultier has been beating Holland and Wescott repeatedly. It's hard to even spot a weakness in his approach. He can absorb features like no other rider I've seen, and he's really improved in the turns of late. There's no question he's the biggest obstacle for guys like Holland and Wescott.

"It's the only medal that I don't have," Nate Holland declared, still breathless after winning his fifth consecutive gold medal at Saturday afternoon's Winter X Games 14 in Aspen, Colo.

"Definitely my number one goal going into Vancouver is to win it." Holland adds, "I mean -- Olympic gold -- C'mon. You gotta go for it."

"Going for it" has always been one of Holland's specialties. The 31-year-old is a true veteran of the sport. Becoming the first ever Winter X Games champion to win five gold medals is a testament to his all-in approach.

But that same approach lost him an Olympic medal at Torino, Italy, in 2006.

"Torino was... ugh, Olympic dreams shattered." Holland told us during an interview we did with him last month.

"All it took was just a millisecond of my concentration to be broken," he said of the fall that cost him a victory. Shaking his head, he then added, "As soon as I fell in Torino I [was] like 'Well... Vancouver here I come. Four more years.'"

Indeed, Holland is on his way to Vancouver. But the deja vu from 2006 is starting to sink in.

Just a week and a half before Holland headed to Torino he competed in the 2006 Winter X Games XII, winning his first X Games gold medal. After that, Holland was the favorite to win in Torino. His 14th-place finish was a major disappointment to himself and to his country.

This time around he seems more comfortable with the pressure. "I know what to expect with media, security, even Secret Service popping up out of nowhere," he says. "All I can do is ride my heart out and see where I land, hopefully on top of that podium. I've been able to turn all those butterflies in my stomach into positive energy now."

Holland will join Graham Watanabe, Nick Baumgartner and 2006 Olympic snowboardcross gold-medalist Seth Wescott on the men's U.S. snowboardcross team this year. "It was a huge battle to make this men's SBX team," said Peter Foley, the U.S. snowboarding head coach. "Vancouver is going to be an incredible fight for the podium, and our guys are ready for it."

Though Wescott has an Olympic gold medal, he's never won gold at the X Games, despite seven appearances on the podium. For the past five games he's been playing second fiddle to Holland, including Saturday in Aspen, Colo. "Always the bridesmaid," Wescott joked during the post-race interview.

Whether Holland can carry his momentum all the way up to and through Vancouver will be determined on Feb. 15, when the Olympic snowboardcross men's competition will kick off at Cypress Mountain.

Quick, what's the recreational snowboarder's worst nightmare? Well, if you're like most, it's a narrow run, packed with a bunch of other frothing boarders doing everything possible to cut each other off while riding over slick, well-worn terrain. It's hardly worth the 70 bucks.

But when this nightmare is wrapped into a sporting package with a starting gate and a finish line you've got yourself a rough-and-tumble event known for mid-air collisions and a no-holds-barred approach. That's right. You've got a whole new sport, called snowboardcross, also known as boardercross or just SBX.

Yup, this nightmare of a day has been been transformed into a mixed martial art of sorts. There might not be any submission holds, but there are all kinds of elbows thrown, which is why it's now one of the more entertaining shows at the Winter Olympics.

Snowboardcross made its Olympic debut at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy. It broke the mold for traditional slalom-style racing formats, and introduced a high-intensity, head-to-head competition that quickly became a fan favorite.

In fact, its popularity helped propel skier cross (same rules, except competitors are on skis) into the Olympic program and will make its debut in Vancouver. That's right, now racers will be armed with sharp sticks, too.

The race stacks up like this: Four snowboarders line up and then launch out of the starting gate, charging downhill through banked turns, over jumps, rollers and varied terrain. Catastrophic crashes and pileups are common as riders fight to maintain their trajectory and momentum in an all-out race to the finish line.

A timed qualification run is used to seed competitors into different heats. The start, as well as the first sections before the first turn, are critical parts of the course, as passing can easily occur here. While other passing areas are designated on the course, there are, in fact, some rules. Interference with other riders can lead to an athlete's disqualification, which happens all the time.

American Seth Wescott, who won Olympic gold in 2006, has compared its demands to other snowboard disciplines. "Boardercross is more about experience and technique," he said. "You have to be a great snowboarder. It's a different thing to be able to ride a snowboard, than to just do tricks on it. You have to be comfortable in the air, in variable terrain, and have a very subtle touch -- it encompasses all of it."

U.S. rider Lindsey Jacobellis, 24, took home silver for the women in Torino. Her take on the thrill of this head-to-head battle: "You can't control what the other three people around you are doing, and that makes it good for television," she said, laughing. "It's a unique feeling, a lot of stress, butterflies, nervousness and a big adrenaline rush. That's what helps me survive. It's a pretty crazy, intense feeling."

Jacobellis' hard-charging style cost her gold in Torino, when she crash-landed off a jump at the bottom of the course and lost the lead. The most painful part? Well, she was showboating while she did her jump because she had a huge lead.

But she says 2010 isn't about redemption, she'll approach the Vancouver Games the same way she does any competition.

"I try my hardest to push the sport for women," Jacobellis added. "Sometimes I suffer the consequences."

She pushed just right Saturday in Aspen, taking the gold at X Games.

Nate Holland, who took gold on the men's side in Aspen and will join Jacobellis in Vancouver, says the sport is a combination of all snowboarding's disciplines, and experience plays a large role in success.

"In tight, high-speed situations you're using all your senses and making split-second decisions, always looking ahead," Holland said. "It's definitely a rush, and a big part of where experience comes in to play...You try not to think too much -- it's instinct."