Take a ski racer. Add a very fast snowboarder. Top with a meta-dose of adrenaline. Stir it up. The result? Let's see …

First, a little business news: The teams in ultracross are formed when each of the top 16 Boarder X finishers draw from a hat containing the names of the top 16 Skier X finishers. By coincidence, Seth Wescott drew the name Peter Lind. What's so strange about that? Only that Wescott drew the same name last year, and the Wescott-Lind express won the '02 gold medal (Lind also won in '01). Aha.

Delerue (left) and Zackrisson (right) with Sal center.

More business news (this is important, we promise): Lind was taken out in the quarterfinals by four-time Olympic Alpiner Casey Puckett. Medal dreams squelched? Not so fast. Instant replay showed that Puckett had violated Lynn's airspace and was DQ'ed. The heat was run again, and Lind-Wescott advanced. Whew.

The action (finally!): The skiers hit the course first, and Lars Lewen, skier X gold medallist, took the holeshot. Lind hit the second slot, and the positions held all the way to the finish line. As soon as a skier crosses the line, an electronic signal trips the starting gate for his teammate, which means Ben Jacobellis was the first snowboard out of the gate with Wescott close behind.

Seconds later, Wescott passed Jacobellis to take the lead. Jacobellis drifted back and got tangled up with Scott Gaffney. Both riders went down. Xavier Delerue quickly caught Wescott, passed him halfway down the run and strolled to the gold, with skier teammate Kaj Zackrisson. Wescott and Lind finished second and Jacobellis got up to finish third, with Lewen.