Canada’s Evan McEachran closed the World Cup slopestyle season with a silver medal on Saturday in Silvaplana, Switzerland.
The Oakville, Ont., native finished with a score of 93 points. Sweden’s Jesper Tjader (94.25) struck gold, while Norway’s Birk Ruud (92.50) claimed bronze.
It was McEachran’s first podium finish since January 2022 when he took bronze in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
“It’s absolutely incredible. I’ve run into all sorts of problems in my finals this year, and I’m really happy to be finishing like this,” he said. “I’ve worked hard on my mental preparation over the past few months, and I feel like it has really helped.
“It sounds a bit cliche, but I focused on just enjoying skiing and putting less pressure on myself, and that’s made a positive difference.”
WATCH | McEachran reaches podium in Switzerland:
The Oakville, Ontario, native put up a score of 93 on his way to a second-place finish in Switzerland.
McEachran scored a 91 on his first run to provisionally place him in third. He put up his top score in the second run to elevate himself to second.
“It was a very demanding run that needed to be executed almost perfectly if I wanted to get onto the podium,” he said. “I was feeling confident, and I knew I had what it took, but to do it twice in a row was just amazing.”
The 26-year-old is a two-time Olympian, having competed at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in South Korea, where he finished sixth in slopestyle.
At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, he finished ninth in the men’s big air event and 24th in slopestyle.
Troubles during both runs
Elsewhere in Silvaplana, Quebec snowboarder Laurie Blouin concluded her season with a ninth-place finish in slopestyle.
Blouin, who qualified fourth on Thursday, had hopes of a good result for the final but encountered difficulties during her two runs.
Blouin landed a bit too far on the first jump of her first run and never found the rhythm to eventually earn a 10.00 mark. On the second run, it was on the second jump that things got tough and she only collected 27.75 points.
“I was too big on both descents. On the second jump, I managed to save him a bit, but it made me lose a lot of speed. For the last jump, I had no more speed at all,” she said.
American Julia Marino won gold with a score of 87.25 on her second run. Australia’s Tess Coady (85.00) took silver and Austria’s Anna Gasser (82.25) was in bronze position.
Jasmine Baird, the other Canadian in the final, finished seventh with a score of 64.50 in the first run.
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