Dominant in the first lap of the acrobatic descent (slope style) in X Games snowboarding, Laurie Blouin crashed on landing from a jump on the next three runs, which relegated her to fifth place on Friday in Aspen, Colorado.
The Stoneham snowboarder could certainly have moved up the rankings, except that she could not maintain her balance at her very last reception of the competition. However, it was impossible to know by how many points she was separated from the podium, because the judges only displayed the ranking of the athletes in each round and not their scores.
The New Zealander and reigning champion of the event, Zoi Sadowski Synnott, offered a final faultless run to win ahead of the Australian Tess Coady. Japan’s Kokomo Murase finished third.
Blouin had won the bronze medal in this event during her last two appearances in Aspen in 2021 and 2022. She will be back in action at the big jump on Saturday.
Olivia Asselin eighth
Later in the evening, it was Olivia Asselin’s turn to be in action at this prestigious invitational competition. Called in as a backup as a reservist for the Grand Saut (Big Air) of the X Games last year, the skier took the opportunity to climb on the third step of the podium.
PHOTO HUGH CAREY, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Quebecer Olivia Asselin, last December
On Friday, the Lévisienne ranked eighth.
The 18-year-old finished the contest where the top two scores were held with a final score of 59 points. The competition was marked by victory for Canadian Megan Oldham (91 points), who landed a perfect score of 50 on her third vault.
Frenchwoman and 2022 X Games champion Tess Ledeux (90 points) finished second ahead of Scotland’s Kirdty Muir (85 points).
Asselin was provisionally in fourth place after the first lap where she scored 28 points. The Quebecer missed her landing on the next lap to then score 27 points on her third pass over the jump. His fifth jump will ultimately be the most profitable of the evening with a score of 31 points.
The Olympian from the Beijing Games will remain in Colorado as a reserve for the acrobatic descent which is scheduled for Sunday.
On Saturday, Edouard Therriault will be part of the men’s acrobatic downhill in skiing, Elizabeth Hosking will start snowboarding in the halfpipe and the snowboarder Laurie Blouin is registered for the big jump.