Audrey McManiman of Sainte-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Quebec won her first World Cup snowboarding medal on Saturday. McManiman placed third in a World Cup women’s snowboard cross event in Reiteralm, Austria.
McManiman finished behind gold medalist Charlotte Bankes of Great Britain, and silver medalist Michela Moioli of Italy. McManiman won the second quarterfinal heat, and was second to Bankes in the second semifinal.
In the women’s World Cup snowboardcross standings, McManiman is now the top Canadian in seventh place overall with 225 points. Bankes is the overall leader with a whopping 569 points.
McManiman is the only Canadian woman to win a World Cup snowboard cross medal this season. However, one must remember that Meryeta O’Dine of Prince George, British Columbia won a women’s snowboardcross medal in the biggest snowboardcross event of the 2021-22 season. That was a bronze medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Even though this was McManiman’s first World Cup medal, she has had international success for Canada in the past. She won a gold medal for Canada at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria (in slopestyle snowboarding), and a bronze medal for Canada in women’s snowboardcross at the 2019 Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. McManiman attended Laval University. The bronze medal for McManiman in Reiteralm will give her confidence as she prepares for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
