Gold for Evan McEachran at ski slopestyle World Cup opener in Stubai

Evan McEachran has earned his first career World Cup win, taking gold in ski slopestyle at the FIS Freestyle World Cup in Stubai, Austria.

The 26-year-old from Oakville, Ontario was awarded the victory based on Thursday’s qualification results after Friday’s finals were cancelled due to severe winds. Heavy snow in the forecast for the rest of the weekend meant that postponing was not an option. The anticipated bad weather had already led to the qualification round being moved up to Thursday from their originally scheduled date on Friday.

In the first ski slopestyle World Cup of 2023-24, McEachran scored 93.00 on his first run in qualification to top both of the men’s heats. He shared the podium with a pair of Americans, Mac Forehand (90.50) and Alexander Hall (88.75).

This was McEachran’s first World Cup outing of the season after missing the big air opener in Chur, Switzerland in October. It is the sixth time in his career he has stood on a World Cup podium. His first podium came in Stubai back in 2017 when he finished in second place.

Two other Canadians had also advanced to the 16-man final. Max Moffatt ends up in sixth place while 19-year-old Jeremy Gagné finished 15th.

The next FIS Freestyle World Cup is scheduled for November 30 – December 2 in Beijing and will feature big air competition. That weekend will also see the start of the World Cup season for moguls and aerials in Ruka, Finland.