Eliot Grondin wins World Cup bronze in Russia
In the men’s snowboard cross big final at the World Cup in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Eliot Grondin won bronze. He had a strong showing in the preliminary rounds, winning all of his qualifying heats including the semifinal.
In a very close final, Grondin finished third behind Germany’s Martin Noerl who took the gold and Austria’s Jakob Dusek who secured the silver medal.
Grondin started the race perfectly, getting into the lead early. Dusek and Australia’s Adam Lambert were battling for positions two and three while Noerl sat in fourth. It was the Austrian who took second position, but just before the jump, the heat became close with all four athletes taking-off almost at the same time. The German captured the most speed, landing in first position. Dusek took the inside line, trying to attack the German. Lambert was now in third position with Grondin in fourth.
After the second roller section, Grondin made a move on the Australian and pulled into third position. Although still pretty tight, the riders maintained this formation over the last jump and into the finish.
With this bronze, Grondin sits in fourth place in overall Cup standings with 214 points.
Canadian teammate Liam Moffatt finished in ninth position overall. In the women’s competition, Audrey McManiman finished in eighth position.
It was the last chance for athletes to qualify for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, which begin in less than thirty days. While the slopes experienced extremely cold conditions on Saturday for the first day of racing with temperatures as low as -24 degrees, the weather improved on Sunday for the second day of competition.
