This one was for Sarah.  Her braid whipping in the chilly mountain air, Maddie Bowman of the US soared to the first gold medal in women’s Olympic half pipe skiing on Thursday, edging out Marie Martinod, of France, in the final.  This would be a night to remember as they were paying tribute to their friend, Canadian freestyle skiing icon Sarah Burke.

Burke, a leading advocate of adding several events — including half-pipe — to the Olympic program, died following a training accident in 2012. Her parents, Gordon Burke and Jan Phelan, watched as Bowman made history.

“It was Sarah’s dream to be here,” Phelan said. “So, it’s here. The half-pipe is opening for the women and I miss her like crazy.”

The athletes Burke championed tried to rise to the occasion, Bowman in particular.

“Sarah has inspired us on snow or off snow,” Bowman said. “I think she would have been very proud of how all the girls rode tonight. … I hope I and all the other girls made her proud. We wouldn’t have been here without her.”

Bowman showed some of Burke’s tenaciousness in the finals.

The 20-year-old from South Lake Tahoe, Calif., was just third in qualifying but found a rhythm in the medal round after overcoming some jitters that she joked made her want to “barf.”

Stringing along a dizzying series of spins and grabs, Bowman performed the two highest-scoring runs of the night.

Bowman’s first finals run, an 85.80, put pressure on Martinod, who led qualifying. Bowman’s second trip through the half-pipe was even better. She clasped the side of her helmet in disbelief then sat and waited to see if Martinod or American teammate Brita Sigourney could top her.

Nope.

Sigourney, who washed out in her first finals run, appeared ready to threaten Bowman before her backside skimmed the snow with only one jump off the 22-foot half-pipe left to complete her run.

That left Martinod, who retired in 2007 but returned to the sport in 2012 at the urging of Burke. The 29-year-old Frenchwoman was one of the older performers in the 23-skier field and her introduction included a series of outtakes with her 4-year-old daughter Melirose.

“She’s my everything,” Martinod said. “I keep training and charging and doing what I love because I want her to see how great it is to achieve some goals and be able to reach the point I wanted to be.”

It’s a spot Martinod would not have reached if not pushed by Burke, who casually suggested to Martinod three years ago that it was time to come back. Burke was convinced the half-pipe would be in the Olympics. Martinod was not sure she was up for the challenge after such a long layoff.

“I said, ‘Sarah, I love you, but it’s not possible,”’ Martinod said. “It’s too long (a) time. I quit skiing.”

It didn’t look like it in the final. Her 85.40 earned silver and gave her a chance for her to say “goodbye” to Burke. Martinod painted snowflakes on her fingernails in tribute then stood on the podium alongside her daughter in triumph.

“I feel very proud of these women,” Martinod said.

There were several hard crashes during qualifying, the worst coming when Anais Caradeux slammed into the ice during her second run. The 23-year-old Frenchwoman lay motionless for several seconds before being tended to by medics.

Caradeux sustained lacerations on her face but managed to ski down the half-pipe to the medical tent. She qualified ninth but didn’t compete in the finals. Caradeux said afterward she blacked out for 10-to-15 seconds and sustained some short-term memory loss.

She was hardly alone on a sometimes bruising night. Sigourney took a rough fall during her first finals run, with Bowman sprinting up the half-pipe to help her up. She recovered in time to take a second trip down the slope but it wasn’t nearly good enough.

Sigourney blinked back tears of disappointment, though they were soon cast aside during an event that served as a celebration of Burke’s legacy.

“A lot of girls were really pushing themselves,” said Rosalind Groenewoud of Canada, who finished seventh. “I wish (Sarah) could have won tonight if it wasn’t me.”

Bowman’s gold was the sixth for the U.S. at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. She was joined by teammate David Wise — who won gold in the men’s competition Tuesday — atop the medal stand, though Bowman understood the night was about more than just national pride.

“This is first time a lot of people in this world saw what we do and why we love it,” she said.

American snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg won the first gold medal of the Sochi Games Saturday, beating out Canadian favorites Maxine Parrot and Mark Morris in the Olympics’ premiere slopestyle competition.

After Shaun White pulled out of the event a few days ago, the hopes to medal in this event were grim; not to mention the fact that many of the participants had stated the danger of the treacherous course.  Earlier in the day, a female competitor had landed head first in the snow.  Kotsenburg prevailed in what proved to be a difficult fight.

Maxine Parrot landed in fifth, while Mark McMorris, who competed with a broken rib, won bronze.  Norway’s Staale Sandbech, the top scorer of the competition in qualifiers, took silver.  Kostenburg was the only American to advance to the final round of the competition after teammates Charles Guldemond and Ryan Strassel were bumped out in semi-finals earlier in the day.

The 20-year-old Utah native had to fight for his place in the medal round.  He was not among the top eight snowboarders to automatically advance to finals from Thursday’s qualifying competition.  But he steadily improved in the second round, living up to his nickname, “second-run Sage.”

Still, Kostenburg appeared surprised at the positive turn of events.  “Whoa how random is this I made finals at the Olympics!!!” he tweeted.

He was the first man up at the finals and immediately became the one to beat.  The uber laid-back snowboarder tamed the treacherous course that chased away teammate Shaun White earlier in the week and sent several other contenders to the medical tent.

While the course that features a large nesting doll, tricky rails and three jumps took out its fair share of riders, Kotsenburg kept his cool.  His blonde hair flapping out from under his helmet as he soared through the sun-splashed Caucasus Mountains, Kotsenburg looked as if he were cruising down the hill with friends.  Still, there was drama as he waited out the rest of the 12-man field.  He stood off to the side after his second run, a not quite sharp 83.25, and clapped behind a nervous smile as the rest of the field aimed for his score.

McMorris, slowed by his broken rib, couldn’t quite get there. A gold medal favorite before his injury at X Games last month, McMorris needed to scramble to get through the semifinals and his trip down the hill in the finals was solid but not spectacular.  Sandbech, who went next to last, was nearly flawless.  He was so pumped after his second run he belly-flopped onto the ground.  His 91.75 wasn’t quite good enough, leaving only Parrot in Kotsenburg’s way of gold.

Parrot dominated qualifying, posting the best score of the week.  He put together a flawless first run only to sit on the landing of his final jump. He wobbled twice on his second run.  He dropped his head when his 87.25 popped up on the scoreboard while Kotsenburg raised his arms in triumph.

Go Team USA!