Canada came away with three medals on Saturday at a World Cup big air snowboarding event in Modena, Italy. Nicolas Laframboise of St-Jean, Quebec won the gold medal and two-time Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Mark McMorris of Regina, Saskatchewan won the silver medal in the men’s event, while Brooke Voigt of Fort McMurray, Alberta won the silver medal in the women’s event.
For Laframboise it was his first career snowboarding medal. He had a winning score of 172.5 points. McMorris had a second place score of 168 points. Chris Corning of the United States had a third place score of 166.25 points in winning bronze. Laframboise reached the podium by 9.5 points over Ryoma Kimata of Japan, who was in fourth place with a score of 163 points. McMorris reached the podium by five points.
McMorris won his fifth career World Cup medal in big air snowboarding and eighth World Cup medal overall. He previously won a bronze medal for Canada in men’s slopestyle snowboarding at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and another bronze medal for Canada in men’s slopestyle snowboarding at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
Voigt posted a second place score of 126.75 points. Reira Iwabuchi of Japan won the gold medal with a score of 176.5 points. Anna Gasser of Austria won the bronze medal with a score of 109.75 points. Voigt reached the podium comfortably by 42.75 points over Loranne Smans of Belgium, who was in fourth place with 84 points.
This was Voigt’s seventh World Cup snowboarding medal and second in big air. Her previous big air snowboarding medal was a bronze medal in Boston on February 11, 2016. The medals for Laframboise, McMorris and Voigt will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
