Olympic odds, ends & trends: After Red’s gold medal, Silverthorne becomes ‘Goldthorne’

Silverthorne gets an (unofficial) name change, Red Gerard’s Instagram blows up and more in today’s Summit Daily Olympic odds, ends and trends:

SUMMIT STAT: 91,000

The approximate number of Instagram followers Red Gerard gained in 24 hours after he won the snowboard slopestyle gold medal. Gerard said entering the contest he had around 50,000 followers, and by early Sunday evening here in Colorado, that number crept up to 141,000.

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‘GOLDTHORNE’

In the wake of 17-year-old Silverthorne snowboarder Red Gerard’s gold medal victory Saturday night, it didn’t take long for Summit County to go from silver to gold.

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That’s because at some point Saturday night or Sunday, the sign welcoming drivers into Silverthorne from the eastbound Interstate 70 at exit 205 was changed to read: “Welcome to Goldthorne.” It was in honor of the Silverthorne resident and Summit County local Gerard, who won Olympic gold in the men’s snowboard slopestyle competition.

The ‘Goldthorne’ sign consists of red block letters against a white backdrop over the “Silver” in the Silverthorne sign, while the silvery-goldish “thorne” letters of the original sign remain.

And early Sunday evening, in typical Summit County style, a Facebook user posted a picture of the sign to the “One Man’s Junk” Facebook group.

Much like the sign, and Gerard, the ensuing comments were also quite golden.

“Best thing I’ve seen all day,” one commenter wrote.

“Yeah, baby. I love it! When’s the parade?” another commenter asked.

“Sounds better and there is GOLD in these hills,” yet another commenter wrote. “Change the name!”

Time will tell on a parade. It may have to wait until March, or later, as Gerard remains in South Korea for the remainder of the Olympics leading up to the debut Olympic big air competition.

SHIFFRIN’S DEBUT DELAYED

This year’s American Olympic darling, High Country local Mikaela Shiffrin, will have to wait two more days for her 2018 Olympic debut. But now she’ll start her Olympics with her strongest event, the slalom. Monday’s giant slalom was delayed due to heavy winds at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre. The race has been rescheduled for Thursday — Wednesday night Colorado time. The slalom is scheduled for Wednesday — Tuesday night in Colorado.

“It’s a bummer that we’re not able to race today,” she said in a statement. “But with the training block I’ve had, I’m prepared and feeling good. I’ll use this time to continue to train and refocus on Wednesday’s slalom race. We have a great gym and space to eat and take plenty of naps, so I’ll use this time to recharge.”

The U.S. starters are Shiffrin, Resi Stiegler, Megan McJames and Tricia Mangan.