Naomi Urness and Dylan Deschamps, Canadian freestyle skiers, clinched silver medals at the World Cup season’s inaugural big air event held in Secret Garden, China. Urness, 21, hailing from Mont-Tremblant, Que., secured her first-ever World Cup medal with a combined score of 165.75 from two runs.
In the women’s category, Great Britain’s Kirsty Muir claimed gold with a total of 174.50 points, while China’s Liu Mengting settled for bronze. On the men’s side, Deschamps from Quebec City scored a combined 178.50 to secure the silver medal, with American Troy Podmilsak taking the top spot and New Zealand’s Luca Harrington securing bronze.
At the same venue, an emerging Canadian talent, Eli Bouchard, a 17-year-old from Lac Beauport, Que., narrowly missed the podium in the men’s snowboard big air event, finishing fourth with a score of 153.75. Chinese athletes Su Yiming and Ge Chunyu clinched gold and silver, respectively, while Japan’s Ryoma Kimata took home the bronze.
In the women’s snowboard event, Japanese athletes dominated the podium, with Mari Fukada winning gold, followed by Reira Iwabuchi and Miyabi Onitsuka in silver and bronze positions, respectively.