Weekend Roundup: Another slopestyle win for Spalding, figure skaters claim national titles
Team Canada athletes gave us plenty to cheer about this weekend! From jaw-dropping victories to personal bests, our athletes delivered some seriously exciting moments.
In Sapporo, ski jumper Alexandria Loutitt soared back to the top after a two-year drought, while in Switzerland, 19-year-old snowboarder Cameron Spalding continued his climb to greatness. On the ice, the Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval saw a lot of familiar faces claim titles.
So, what went down? Let’s dive into all the highlights:
Snowboard & Ski Slopestyle: Spalding and Oldham shine at Laax Open
Cameron Spalding continues to amaze. The 19-year-old grabbed his second win of the FIS World Cup season, taking the top spot in men’s snowboard slopestyle in Laax, Switzerland. Spalding’s second run of the final earned him a score of 86.63, as he took first place from American Red Gerard, the 2018 Olympic champion, by 0.41 points.
Spalding was nearly joined on the podium by fellow Canadian Liam Brearley who finished fourth. His score of 83.44 for his first run left him just 0.28 back of Germany’s Noah Vicktor who placed third. Eli Bouchard, who had ranked third in qualification, ended up 12th in the final.
In women’s snowboard slopestyle, Laurie Blouin was the only Canadian in the final and finished sixth.
On Friday, Megan Oldham had finished second in women’s ski slopestyle at the Laax Open. Her score of 72.80 put her just ahead of Swiss home favourite Mathilde Gremaud by 0.21 points. Olivia Asselin also made it through to the final, finishing seventh. It is Oldham’s first World Cup podium since March 2023.
The top Canadian in men’s ski slopestyle was Evan McEachran, who finished fourth, just 0.22 back of a podium position. Max Moffatt finished eighth while Noah Porter MacLennan was 13th.
Ski Jumping: Loutitt flies to first place in Sapporo
Alexandria Loutitt earned her first FIS World Cup victory in two years with a strong performance during the first large hill event of the weekend in Sapporo, Japan.
READ: Alexandria Loutitt tops ski jumping podium in Japan
On Saturday, she posted the top score in both rounds of jumping in the final. Her second jump earned the highest score of the day, 137.2 points, after she covered a distance of 131 metres. Her total score of 266.4 gave her a margin of victory of 12.7 points. Loutitt’s last World Cup podium had been back in March 2024. Her only previous World Cup win had been in January 2023 in Zao, Japan. Loutitt placed 12th in the second large hill event on Sunday.
Aerials: Thénault soars to podium at World Cup opener
It’s been a long wait for the first FIS World Cup aerials stop of the 2024-25 season, but Marion Thénault picked up just where she left off. The 24-year-old finished third in the women’s event, scoring 90.94 points in the six-woman super final. She had closed out the 2023-24 season with a World Cup victory last March. Thénault was joined in the first round of the final by Alexandra Montminy. The 18-year-old finished 11th overall for her career best World Cup result.
Alexandre Duchaine was the only Canadian to advance to the men’s final. He finished eighth overall. The following day, Montminy and Duchaine reached the podium in the mixed team event, finishing second with Miha Fontaine as the third member of their team. The trio of Lewis Irving, Émile Nadeau, and Charlie Fontaine placed fourth.
Figure Skating: National champions crowned
It was an exciting week of friendly competition at the 2025 Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval, Québec.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier clinched their fourth ice dance title with a total score of 229.55 after finishing first in both the rhythm dance and free dance. Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha secured silver (218.52), while Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer took bronze (195.88).
For a third consecutive year, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps are the pairs national champions. They had missed a lot of training time in December while Deschamps recovered from illness, but showed their world champion mettle to score 207.06. Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud earned silver (204.96) with the best free skate of the day. Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier rounded out the podium with bronze (187.29).
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier perform their rhythm dance at the Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval, Que., Saturday, January 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes 
Gold medalists Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, centre, bronze medalists Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier, right, and silver medalists Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud hold up their medals following the pair’s competition at the Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval, Que., Saturday, January 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes 
Madeline Schizas performs her free program in the women’s competition at the Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval, Que., on Sunday, Jan.19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi 
Gold medalist Roman Sadovsky, centre, silver medalist Anthony Paradis, left, and bronze medalist David Li hold up their medals following the men’s competition at the Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval, Que., Saturday, January 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Madeline Schizas took back the women’s title, securing her third gold medal at the nationals. She unveiled a new free program she plans to take forward into the Olympic year and scored 203.87 overall, a Canadian best ever.
Roman Sadovsky returned to the top step of the podium, adding the 2025 men’s title to the one he claimed in 2020.
The final day of competition could not have gotten off to a better start, as spectators witnessed the induction of Olympic bronze medallist Joannie Rochette and her coach Manon Perron into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame. Their success and resilience will never be forgotten, nor will the immense impact they have had on Canadian figure skating.
Alpine Skiing: Top 5s for Crawford and Alexander in Wengen
The men’s FIS Alpine World Cup circuit competed at one of the world’s most famed courses in Wengen, Switzerland. Jack Crawford finished fourth in the super-G on Friday, missing the podium by just four one-hundredths (0.04) of a second. Cameron Alexander finished eighth in that race.
The next day, Alexander was fifth in the downhill, 0.14 back of a podium position. Crawford ended up ninth in that race.
Bobsleigh: Pat Norton drives to career best in top six
Pat Norton piloted his four-man sled to a sixth-place finish at the IBSF World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria. He and his crew of Mike Evelyn O’Higgins, Keaton Bruggeling, and Shaq Murray-Lawrence ended up half a second back of third place. Norton had never before broken into the top 10 of a World Cup race. His previous career best was 11th in a four-man World Cup in Lake Placid in December 2022.
On the women’s side, Cynthia Appiah finished 10th in the monobob. The top performance in two-woman came from Bianca Ribi and Niamh Haughey who finished 15th.
Biathlon: Canadian women finish top 10 in Ruhpolding
Canada secured a top-10 finish in the women’s 4×6 km relay at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. The team of Pascale Paradis, Emma Lunder, Shilo Rousseau and Nadia Moser finished ninth overall. That followed a 14th-place finish for Lunder in the women’s 14km individual, her best solo result of the season.