Evan McEachran puts Canada on medal podium with World Cup slopestyle silver
Cites improved mental preparation for success; Quebec's Blouin 9th in women's event
Canada's Evan McEachran closed the World Cup slopestyle season with a silver medal on Saturday in Silvaplana, Switzerland.
The Oakville, Ont., native finished with a score of 93 points. Sweden's Jesper Tjader (94.25) struck gold, while Norway's Birk Ruud (92.50) claimed bronze.
It was McEachran's first podium finish since January 2022 when he took bronze in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
"It's absolutely incredible. I've run into all sorts of problems in my finals this year, and I'm really happy to be finishing like this," he said. "I've worked hard on my mental preparation over the past few months, and I feel like it has really helped.
"It sounds a bit cliche, but I focused on just enjoying skiing and putting less pressure on myself, and that's made a positive difference."
WATCH | McEachran reaches podium in Switzerland:
McEachran scored a 91 on his first run to provisionally place him in third. He put up his top score in the second run to elevate himself to second.
"It was a very demanding run that needed to be executed almost perfectly if I wanted to get onto the podium," he said. "I was feeling confident, and I knew I had what it took, but to do it twice in a row was just amazing."
The 26-year-old is a two-time Olympian, having competed at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in South Korea, where he finished sixth in slopestyle.
At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, he finished ninth in the men's big air event and 24th in slopestyle.
Also in Saturday's final, Calgary's Mark Hendrickson was seventh with a score of 90.00.
Oldham 5th in women's slopestyle
Etienne Geoffroy-Gagnon of Whitehorse and Alexander Henderson of Apex, B.C. did not advance past Thursday's qualification rounds, placing 30th and 36th overall.
In the women's competition, Megan Oldham of Parry Sound, Ont., was the only Canadian to advance to the final. Although she had finished first in the qualifiers, the runner-up world champion faltered slightly on her last descents, finishing fifth with 85.75 points.
Tess Ledeux of France won the event with a score of 93.25. She was accompanied on the podium by Sarah Hoefflin of Switzerland (90.25) and Johanne Killi of Norway (89.25). Ledeux also won the discipline's Crystal Globe, having earned 380 points in five slopestyle contests this season.
The only other Canadian woman competing in Silvaplana was Calgary's Rylee Hackler, who finished 18th in the qualifiers and did not advance.
Canada finished first in the Nations Cup for all disciplines in World Cup Freestyle, with a total of 7,324 points, followed by the United States (5,564) and Switzerland (4,135).
WATCH | Full coverage of Saturday's men's and women's competitions:
Troubles during both runs
Elsewhere in Silvaplana, Quebec snowboarder Laurie Blouin concluded her season with a ninth-place finish in slopestyle.
Blouin, who qualified fourth on Thursday, had hopes of a good result for the final but encountered difficulties during her two runs.
Blouin landed a bit too far on the first jump of her first run and never found the rhythm to eventually earn a 10.00 mark. On the second run, it was on the second jump that things got tough and she only collected 27.75 points.
"I was too big on both descents. On the second jump, I managed to save him a bit, but it made me lose a lot of speed. For the last jump, I had no more speed at all," she said.
American Julia Marino won gold with a score of 87.25 on her second run. Australia's Tess Coady (85.00) took silver and Austria's Anna Gasser (82.25) was in bronze position.
Jasmine Baird, the other Canadian in the final, finished seventh with a score of 64.50 in the first run.
With files from CBC Sports and Radio-Canada
