VALMALENCO, Italy (March 12) - It was redemption for Vancouver as far as she was concerned as Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) risked a late pass to win the World Cup SBX race in Italy on Friday.

The heavily decorated snowboardcross racer was looking for the gold at the 2010 Games when she clipped a gate in the semifinals of the race, which disqualified her and put her in the small final where she took fifth.

For Jacobellis, to be able to come back in her next race and win helped make up for the disappointment of Vancouver.

"I'm pretty stoked. I went into the race wanting to really win as redemption from Vancouver," Jacobellis said. "It's not what I wanted from Vancouver, but it turned out how it did. It's nice right away to be able to get back on the course and see that I do still have it."

The race was a hard-fought one for Jacobellis as she found herself sitting in second for the entirety of the final until she took a risk on getting the lead in a dicey bank turn.

"I was in second place during most of the finals and I thought 'here it is. Either I am going to pass and crash, or I'm going to pass and succeed. I'm not just going to hang in second place,'" Jacobellis said. "I passed in the first bank turn which is normally way up near the start of the course, but this was very close to the end. Probably 20 seconds out from the finish."

Conditions in Italy also appeared to be reminiscent of Vancouver's Cypress Mountain when Jacobellis and the rest of the U.S. team went through time trials.

"In time trials we had similar conditions to Cypress where it was super foggy and snowy. It was hard to see and you had to just rely on the blue dye of the course to get down," Jacobellis said. "But today it was a lot nicer. It was clear."

On the men's side of the race Graham Watanabe (Sun Valley, ID) led the U.S., finishing fifth after a semifinal tangle up relegated him to the small final.

In the end, being able to return to the World Cup successfully has Jacobellis feeling satisfied, and she's excited to be able to have yet another race to compete in when snowboardcross has its World Cup final in La Molina on March 9.

"I feel like I have accomplished a lot coming over here. Normally we have only one set of races after the Olympics, so I feel like it's a bonus that I can even try to do well again at another race," Jacobellis said.