U.S. Olympian Mick Dierdorff claims his first gold in snowboardcross on Day 1 of the FIS World Championships — and the party is on

Solitude • No more than a few seconds after he allowed his momentum to carry him into the inflatable finish line barrier on purpose, sending a plume of snow swirling into the sky, Mick Dierdorff was smack-dab in the center of a mob. Still strapped to his board, still trying to process first place, a world championship, a gold medal, his American snowboardcross teammates piled on. They didn’t relent.

“It’s always been in my dreams — I want to get tackled at the bottom of a course someday,” Dierdorff explained. “That happened today, and I don’t think I took a breath of air for five minutes after that.”

They then baptized Dierdorff in a bath of beer, because when you win a world title as your first-ever win in your sport, that’s what happens. You have no time to think. As fast as he carved and soared down the sketchiest parts of the snowboardcross course, the 27-year-old from Steamboat Springs, Colo., was in the haze of victory. It wouldn’t happen for just anyone, either. Dierdorff is one of the best and easiest to root for, those close to him say.

“When it happens to someone that’s got just such a big heart,” saidfellow American rider Nick Baumgartner, “it makes it that much better.”

Dierdorff’s rise in snowboardcross has seemingly called for a pinnacle moment such as Friday afternoon’s gold medal in the 2019 FIS World Championships. A year ago, he had his first podium place in a World Cup event in an Olympic season. He also punched his ticket to the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where he finished fifth overall. There, in the frigid South Korea cold last February, his parents and friends stood at the base of that course, “shaking in our boots,” said Mary Dierdorff, Mick’s mother.

On Friday, soaking in a perfect, warm bluebird day up Big Cottonwood Canyon, Mary Dierdorff couldn’t stop smiling. She had no reason to stop. She looked on as her son was hoisted up into the air by his friends and teammates. She looked on as he stood for interviews, the American flag draped across his shoulders.

“We see his determination and the goals he has in his life,” she said. “This is so deserving. It’s so deserving today.”

Like so many Olympic hopefuls, Mick Dierdorff has to get to work when the snow melts and there are no more courses to snake down. Every April, Dierdorff ditches the bindings, helmet and goggles for a tool belt. Every offseason, he works construction, framing houses around the Steamboat Springs area. To fund even having a shot at having a gold medal placed around his neck, Dierdorff has to work backward and pay off the previous season’s bills.

“I don’t know if a lot of people know,” Mary Dierdorff said, “but he’s worked his ass off.”

Which makes what happened Friday that much more memorable. In every heat, Dierdorff was out front, feeling the course at Solitude, making it look like it was designed exactly for him. Even after making a minor mistake at the top in the men’s final, it didn’t faze him. He quickly adjusted and found his way to the lead the pack where he cruised, where the base of the course roared louder and louder every time he made the perfect turn or perfect pump over a jump or perfect landing at the end.

“His time has been coming,” Baumgartner said. “We’ve just been waiting for it to happen.”

The waiting is over. Summarizing his career, which like all athletes, features its share of ups and downs, of highs and lows, Dierdorff credited his family for sticking by him, his teammates for pushing him and himself for putting his head down and bursting out of the gates.

“Earn everything,” he said of his own motto.