Olympics 2022 Snowboarding Cross Small Results: France Finishes 1st, USA in 2nd Place

France's Merlin Surget earned a fifth-place overall finish in the men's snowboard cross after winning the small final in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The United States' Jake Vedder, Spain's Lucas Eguibar and Italy's Tommaso Leoni rounded out the four-man field.

Vedder opened with a slim lead over Leoni before Surget surged ahead and passed him on the inside coming around a turn. Then Leoni fell to the snow and knocked down Eguibar.

That turned the small final into a two-horse race, as Surget and Vedder battled for first. Surget's lead grew as the event went on, and he coasted to the finish line.

Eguibar was the gold medalist in snowboard cross at the 2021 World Championships, which raised expectations in Beijing for the 28-year-old. While he was able to get the better of Alessandro Haemmerle and Eliot Grondin in Idre, Sweden, he placed fourth in a semifinal rematch.

Mick Dierdorff inadvertently cleared a path for Eguibar's path to the semis. Dierdorff was running second behind Haemmerle in their quarterfinal heat when he crashed going around the turn. He claimed Germany's Martin Noerl as collateral damage. 

With his small final triumph, Surget earned 450 FIS points. Vedder collected 400 points thanks to his finish in sixth place overall.

In the overall final, Haemmerle went on to capture gold, edging out Grondin in a photo finish.