Eliot Grondin did on Friday what he has done all season on the snowboard cross World Cup circuit: finish first in qualifying.
The snowboarder from Ste-Marie-de-Beauce flew over the Mont-Ste-Anne course in 54.67 seconds, 40 hundredths better than his closest pursuer, the German Paul Berg. Italian Lorenzo Sommariva took third place, in 55.13.
“It’s always the fun to take out a good run and finish first, he said at the end of the first qualifying session. I won all the qualifications this season, it’s still cool. »
“I still had a good qualifying run, even if I made a few mistakes, which will be easy to correct later. We’re going to get ready for Saturday. »
The double Olympic medalist assured that he was not bothered by the ankle injury suffered in Austria last week and which forced him to miss last Sunday’s stage in Montafon.
“I know what I have to do. I don’t take unnecessary risks. I know that with the lines I had and the speed, I didn’t need to risk it. »
“There are two days left. We’ll start tomorrow. But the ankle, I don’t think about it. »
Two other Canadians, Evan Bichon (11e) and Liam Moffatt (15e) finished among the first 20 and directly qualified for Saturday’s event.
Six other riders from Canada started qualifying, but none managed to finish among the top 12 in the second heat and were thus excluded from the elimination rounds. Colby Graham finished in 36e place. He was followed by Tristan Bell (39e), Noah Royz (51e), William Scott (52e), Griffin Mason (55e) and Kai Hooper (56e).
“There is a little more wind halfway through, which means that the times vary a lot. I had a good descent, but I felt the wind slowing me down, explained Bell from Gatineau. […] I know I can do better. It’s disappointing that the wind played such a big role. It was a good day, we learn for Sunday! »
The 32 qualified athletes will be divided into waves of four. Two per wave will be eliminated each round.
Grondin is already assured of getting his hands on the crystal globe. With two races to go this weekend, he holds an insurmountable lead of 204 points ahead of Austrian Alessandro Hämmerle, 12e qualifying on Friday.
Canadian women excluded
The day was less successful for the women, as none of the Canadians registered cracked the top 16 to secure their place for Saturday’s event.
The best was Meryeta O’Dine. The bronze medalist in the mixed team at the last Olympics just missed her qualification by taking 17e place.
“There is a lot of headwind at the bottom of the track. It’s difficult to keep your figure. I was a little sidetracked and landed a little off balance,” explained O’Dine, visibly disappointed with her day.
“You can’t have expectations in this sport, because anything can happen. Everyone has good days and bad days. Today was a bad day for me,” she added.
Bridget Maclean and Nicola Dempsey did not start.
Kennedy Justinen was unable to start the second qualifying session. The Alberta athlete landed heavily on the final jump of the track and collapsed after the finish line, clutching her right knee. She tried to get up, but was clearly unable to put any weight on her leg and the rescuers put her on a stretcher to take her out of the finish area.
She was the second Canadian of the day to leave the course on a stretcher. Hannah Turkington also missed landing the last jump on the track, but her head hit the ground hard and she remained lying there for many seconds in the finish area.
An update on their health was not available at the time of this writing.
Qualifying was dominated by Frenchwoman Léa Casta in 58.86 seconds, 66 hundredths ahead of the leader of the general classification, her compatriot Chloé Trespeuch.
The elimination rounds will begin at noon on Saturday. Sunday’s event will be contested in a different format, with qualifying taking place in waves before the elimination rounds.