AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth
AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth

Laurie Blouin wins big air bronze at Beijing World Cup

PyeongChang 2018 Olympian, Laurie Blouin, won big air bronze at the Air+Style FIS snowboard World Cup in Beijing on Saturday.

Blouin put together a two-run combined score of 156.00 in the final to finish behind silver medallist Miyabi Onitsuka of Japan (176.00). Big air Olympic champion Anna Gasser of Austria took gold with 182.25 points.

17-year-old Reira Iwabuchi of Japan, who dominated the first two World Cups of the season, qualified for Saturday’s final in first place. A fall on her third run took her out of medal contention.

Blouin qualified for the final in third place. In the best two of three run final, she put down a huge cap double underflip 900 mute in her first run. After struggling on her second, Blouin needed her third run to reach the podium.

In the men’s big air final in Beijing, Canadian Max Parrot finished eighth with a score of 119.50.