Vancouver, BC (My Sportsbook) - Canadian snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson won gold in men's parallel giant slalom, beating Austria's Benjamin Karl in the final round at the Vancouver Olympics.

Karl was given a head start of .76 seconds to begin the second of two runs after beating Anderson by that margin in the first race of the big final. However, Anderson made up that ground and wound up winning gold by .35 seconds.

Anderson, 34, had been overall World Cup champion four times during his snowboard career, but never won an Olympic medal before Saturday. His best finish in the PGS prior to the Vancouver Olympics was a 20th-place result at the 2006 Turin Games, where he also placed fifth in snowboard cross.

"I love being in new situations where I rise above the challenge," said Anderson.

Anderson had already said that this would be his fourth and final Olympics.

Karl, the reigning champion and current leader in the parallel World Cup standings, earned the silver for his first Olympic medal.

Mathieu Bozzetto of France won bronze, beating Russia's Stanislav Detkov in the small final.

The conditions at Cypress Mountain were poor as boarders had to battle rain and fog, making visibility an issue on the gated course. Saturday's PGS was the final Olympic event at Cypress Mountain.

This is the third time the PGS has been an Olympic event and the first time it was not won by Switzerland's Philipp Schoch.

Simon Schoch won the silver medal behind his brother Philipp at the 2006 Olympics, but was bounced out in the quarters on Saturday and finished sixth. Philipp Schoch won gold in both previous Olympic PGS competitions, but back problems led to him failing to qualify for the Vancouver Games.

Chris Klug had the best result for the United States, placing seventh after getting eliminated from medal contention with a loss in the quarterfinals. Klug was the bronze medalist in PGS at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.