Quebec’s Éliot Grondin finished third in the first World Cup snowboard cross event of the season on Sunday in Les Deux Alpes, France.
In a race presented 24 hours later than expected, because of the strong winds that raged in the region on Saturday, Grondin first finished first in his waves in the round of 16 and in the quarter-finals.
During his wave of semi-finals, the 21-year-old athlete from Sainte-Marie de Beauce placed second behind the eventual winner, Germany’s Martin Noerl.
In the grand final, Grondin finished 37 hundredths of a second behind the German. The Italian Omar Visintin slipped between Noerl and Grondin to climb on the second step of the podium.
For Grondin, silver medalist in the discipline at the Beijing Olympics in 2022, this is a seventh career World Cup podium. Grondin also has a bronze medal to his name at the 2021 World Championships in Sweden.
In a videoconference on Sunday morning, Grondin explained that a bad landing on a jump had hurt him during the final race.
“I really had more speed than the other descents in the start, but on a jump that you can’t see well on the video images, I almost fell. I landed too far forward, a bit askew with the wind. I was a little destabilized, ”he described.
Despite everything, Grondin was able to hold on and reach the podium, ahead of the Spaniard Lucas Eguibar. It’s a result that still amply satisfied him, especially when compared to his first competition last season, where he was ranked ninth, in China.
“I’m super happy to start the season on a podium, it’s already much better than last year. The conditions were really not easy, it was borderline. It was very windy, it was cold, it was snowing. It really wasn’t great, and to manage to get out of that with a third place, it’s sure that for a start to the season like that, it’s great, ”he analyzed.
Although he noted that the race conditions were not the best, Grondin does not seem to be the type to use the weather to justify his performance.
“It doesn’t really affect me. We are all in the same boat, we all have the same conditions. It’s about finding the positive and dealing with it. At the end of the day, there is going to be a winner,” he first remarked.
“As far as racing, you better do everything you can to be able to perform well. We do a winter sport, on glaciers, on mountains, at high altitude. We can’t expect just beautiful sunshine. »
On the women’s side, Quebecer Audrey McManiman was eliminated from the competition after finishing third in her wave of quarter-finals. Her performance left her at 11e rank in the general classification of the competition.
“I was really nervous, but for sure I was hoping for better. Even with these conditions, today, I knew it could turn out to my advantage. It didn’t really intimidate me if it was snowing or windy. I was really on the attack but it just didn’t go the way I wanted,” McManiman said.
“My preparation was good, I would have liked to do better. It makes me a little more aggressive for the next race,” she added.
Only athletes who finished in first or second place in their wave could advance to the next round.