For Lindsey Jacobellis, another chance to grab a gold medal

Reporting from Vancouver, Canada — 

Method grab?

Four years ago, it wasn’t exactly part of ordinary sports lingo and sounded more like a way to grab a guitar before smashing it onstage.

Or something like that.

Then came Lindsey Jacobellis and her famous miscue on the second-to-last jump in the women’s snowboard cross final at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

It got her the silver medal and cost her gold.

Of course, she didn’t invent the phrase but merely put it in the public’s general frame of reference. For those tuning in to the sport for the first time, here is a public-service definition, courtesy of Wikipedia:

“A fundamental trick performed by grabbing the heel edge of the snowboard between the bindings with the leading hand.”

Jacobellis is back four years later, and although one of the U.S. coaches thought it would be cool if she finished with a method grab, that probably won’t happen Tuesday at Cypress Mountain.

The woman who took advantage of Jacobellis’ gaffe, Tanja Frieden of Switzerland, won’t be on hand to defend her gold medal.

Frieden tore both of her Achilles’ tendons in January and has retired from the sport.

Jacobellis hasn’t been dominating the World Cup circuit this season but comes to the Olympics with momentum after winning a gold medal at the X Games in January.

It was her third victory in three years in Aspen, Colo., and this one came at the expense of Helene Olafsen of Norway.

The dominant figure on the circuit has been Maelle Ricker of Canada, who has three victories and a third-place finish in five World Cup races.

Ricker has had a star-crossed experience at the Olympics, suffering a concussion in Turin after a snowboard cross crash. She finished fourth and told reporters, memorably: “Placing fourth is like seeing the love of your life on the subway but never getting to meet them.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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