BEIDAHU SHEQU — Canada's Éliot Grondin captured his first gold medal of the season at a snowboard cross World Cup event on Saturday.
Grondin, last year's World Cup champion, won every round to finish ahead of second-place Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria and bronze-medallist Merlin Surget of France.
“I did a couple of training runs with Merlin and Loan (Bozzolo) so I kind of knew a little bit what they were going to do," Grondin said. "Turn 2 I knew Merlin was going to try to go a bit lower and pass there, so I defended this section quite good and then I was just trying to fly away and do no mistakes.
"It was really tricky today. We were going pretty far on the jumps, the light wasn’t super-great, so it was hard to tell where you were."
The 23-year-old Grondin of Sainte-Marie, Que., moved atop the overall leaderboard with his win.
He finished fourth at a season-opening event in Cervinia, Italy, in December.
"To win is the cherry on the top of the sundae," he said. "I’m super happy to be back after such a long break, and to be back on top of the podium, super happy."
Great Britain's Charlotte Bankes captured gold in the women's competition on Saturday.
Italy's Michela Moioli claimed silver and France's Lea Casta took bronze.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2025.
The Canadian Press
