As he did the day before on the same course, Éliot Grondin won a second place at the Sierra Nevada Snowboard Cross World Cup on Sunday in Spain. At the finish line, the snowboarder from Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce finished behind the Frenchman Merlin Surget and in front of the Austrian Jakob Dusek.
In seven individual World Cups this season, the 22-year-old has reached the podium on each occasion with four victories, two second places and a third place to his record.
Of the four elimination races in which he took part on Sunday, the final was the only one where the Quebecer did not win. Grondin stressed in a videoconference that he was not too disappointed with this.
“I finished second behind a really good friend who had a difficult start to the season. Of course I would have liked to win, but he raced really well and blocked me in the last corner. As much as it was super tight, he played his race really well. He was the strongest and there wasn’t much I could change about that run. »
I haven’t missed a single podium all season, so I can’t be disappointed.
Eliot Grondin
The other Quebecer present, Tristan Bell, ranked 53e.
On Saturday, the fog had enveloped the Loma Dilar track and Grondin had expressed his fears about the weather on Sunday which did not promise to be better. Fortunately, the expected clouds never came.
“It was good conditions and seeing the course was already pretty cool. […] Today I was tired and had less energy, so I just wanted to go have fun and do the best I could. On my side of the draw, the guys were good at the start, so I had no choice but to go out quickly and not make any mistakes. »
The 2022-2023 campaign was punctuated by ups and downs for the Quebec snowboarder who did not obtain the desired results. Grondin decided to be a studious student and it is this season that he sees the fruits of it.
“I finished the season well, but it wasn’t a season to my liking. I learned a lot from that and every athlete has to go through a time where it’s more difficult. This is where you understand a little more. I’m racing against guys who are almost all ten years older than me and they’ve already had this experience. As much as it was difficult, I learned to become a better athlete. »
Grondin is in an excellent position to win the specialty crystal globe at the end of the season, with five events remaining, including the last two at Mont Sainte-Anne where he could be crowned in front of his family. His 620 points place him far ahead of his closest pursuers, the Austrian Alessandro Haemmerle (319) and the Australian Cameron Bolton (292).
“Yes, I have a good lead, but I don’t think about it. Every weekend, I arrive at the race because I want to do well. I’m racing for myself and I definitely want to win it. There are still five races left for the Globe and a lot can happen. Yes, I have a good lead and normally I should be fine, but I don’t want to get into the mindset where I’m just thinking about the Globe. If I race like I have to, I will go and get it at the end of the year,” he concluded.