By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com

A professional snowboarder from Pinckney now has his first Olympic competition under his belt at the age of 22.

Jake Vedder finished sixth overall today to be the top performer from Team USA in the men’s snowboard cross at Genting Snow Park. The Pinckney native is a snowboard cross junior world champion and Youth Olympic Games gold medalist.

There was quite a bit of excitement at Pinckney Community High School, where a special video was uploaded with a Tweet that read “Every Pinckney Pirate is rooting for you!! You got this!” Students and staff lined the hallways clapping, cheering and chanting "USA". Vedder is a PHS graduate.

Vedder advanced to the semi-finals where he finished third to just miss a place in the big final. He then finished second in the small final to place sixth overall. That’s his best finish of the season, topping his ninth-place finish at the most recent world championships. A member of the national team since 2018, Vedder has been snowboarding since the age of 3.

Vedder made his debut on the world cup circuit in the 2015-16 season and has earned one career podium thus far, a silver medal in 2018-19. He’s placed in the top 10 of the overall world cup standings twice, and in 2019 earned a top-five finish at the world championships.

Photos: TeamUSA.org & Twitter. A link to the PHS video is provided.