Eliot Grondin battles to World Cup snowboard cross silver in Spain

Team Canada snowboarder Eliot Grondin continued his strong season on the slopes in Sierra Nevada, Spain, on Saturday morning, riding his way to the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup podium for the sixth time this season. 

The 22-year-old finished second, only behind Germany’s Leon Ulbricht, who took his first career victory, while beating American Jake Vedder, who secured his fourth World Cup podium and second of the season. 

For Grondin, the podium not only continues a strong campaign in 2023-24 but brings him to 15 podium appearances through his 51 career starts, with Saturday’s race being the fourth time he has stood on the second-highest step on the box. 

A two-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medalist at Beijing 2022, Grondin began the competition in prime position, having topped the qualifying runs on Friday, and continued that form into the first two heats in Saturday’s knockout stages, winning his races in the quarterfinal and semifinal, before falling just short of the victory in the final. 

With the podium marking his sixth of the season, Grondin’s performance was the first time in his career that he had reached the top three in Sierra Nevada, and added to a campaign that has also seen him earn podium honours in Gudauri, St. Moritz, Les Deux Alpes, as well as Cervinia. 

Fellow Canadian teammate Liam Moffatt failed to qualify out of the quarterfinal on Saturday, seeing his day end with a third-place finish in the second quarterfinal heat. Meanwhile, no Canadian women qualified for the knockout stage heats. 

The world’s best snowboarders will battle for podium positions again on Sunday down the same Spanish course before looking towards the last three stops of the season, starting in Cortina d’Ampezzo from March 8-9, before also hitting Montafon, ahead of the season finale on home snow in Québec at Mont St. Anne.