It was a memorable Thursday for 17-year-old Canadian snowboarding phenom Eli Bouchard. The native of Lac-Beauport, Quebec won his first ever World Cup snowboarding medal as he won gold in a men’s big air event in Aspen, Colorado.
Bouchard posted a winning score of 189 points. Taiga Hasegawa of Japan won the silver medal with a score of 184.5 points. Yuto Miyamura of Japan won the bronze medal with a score of 171.25 points. Bouchard reached the podium by 18.25 points, as Oliver Martin was in fourth place with 170.75 points.
What we saw on Thursday was an incredible boost of energy and swagger from Bouchard throughout the entire competition. He had the best qualifying score with 180.5 points, and then in the final, successfully executed a back 1980 with a nosegrab. It was the first time Bouchard ever executed that particular kind of skill. Bouchard is also the youngest person to ever do the double backflip on a snowboard, a technique he executed when he was only eight years old.
This was the last World Cup big air snowboard event of the season. In the men’s big air snowboarding standings, Bouchard is in ninth place with 114 points. Hasegawa was the World Cup champion with 360 points.
The men’s big air snowboarding event will take place at the World Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland on March 28. The gold medal for Bouchard will give him confidence as he prepares for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo.
