Arnaud Gaudet of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec has won his first career World Cup snowboarding medal. It could not have come at a better time, as it is three weeks before the start of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Gaudet won his medal in the men’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding event. He lost to Benjamin Karl of Austria in the big final, and placed ahead of Gian Casanova of Switzerland to reach the podium. Casanova won the small final by beating Yannik Angenend of Germany.
Gaudet won his first race of the competition as he beat Tim Mastnak of Slovenia by 0.31 seconds in the fourth eight finals event. That was followed by a win over Alexander Payer of Austria in the second quarterfinal heat by 12.3 seconds, and a win over Yannik Angenend of Germany in the first semifinal heat by four tenths of a second.
Gaudet is now 15th in the World Cup men’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding standings with 145 points. The leader after seven of 13 events is Karl with 367 points. There are two more World Cup men’s parallel giant slalom World Cup events before the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo. The first is in Simonhohe, Austria on January 23 and the second is in Rogla, Slovenia on January 31.
