(Beaupré) Eliot Grondin came close to scoring a double at the Mont-Sainte-Anne Snowboardcross World Cup. A few centimeters in fact.
The snowboarder from Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce led almost from start to finish in the grand finale of this final event of the season. His opponents, the German Martin Nörl and the American Jake Vedder, took advantage of the suction that the Quebecer gave them to get ahead of him at the finish line.
The photo-finish was necessary to decide between everyone, confirming the victory of Nörl, who thus gets his hands on the crystal globe of the discipline with 510 points.
This third place comes on top of the victory won the day before by Grondin, who saved a difficult season with three last quality races. It lifted him to third in the World Cup standings with 399 points, starting the weekend in eighth place.
Only the Spaniard Lucas Eguibar, fourth on Sunday, entered between Nörl and Grondin, with 37 points more than the Canadian.
Evan Bichon, 12th the day before, finished 13th on Sunday after finishing fourth in his quarter-final heat. Liam Moffatt finished 17th, Colby Graham 25th, while Tristan Bell, Griffin Mason, Noah Royz, Kai Hooper and Scott WIlliam were credited with 33rd place.
Among the ladies, the Briton Charlotte Bankes was unable to sign a seventh victory in a row.
Eliminated in the semi-finals, she recovered by winning the small final to finish in fifth place, confirming at the same time her conquest of the crystal globe.
It was the young Australian Josie Baff who signed the victory, her second of the season. She was ahead of the Austrian Pia Zerkhold and Chloé Trespeuch at the finish line. The Frenchwoman was the only one who could have topped Bankes in the Crystal Globe ranking. She will have to settle for second place, ahead of Baff.
The three Canadian contenders — Kennedy Justinen, Lily Bellaar Spruyt and Arianne Gallant — all finished third in their first heat of the day to finish tied for 17th.
Audrey McManiman did not start, bothered by a left knee injury. She finished the season in 15th place overall.
