Canada's Sébastien Toutant claims gold at men's snowboard slopestyle World Cup in Calgary
CBC
Canada's Sébastien Toutant posted the two best runs of the day to win gold in the men's snowboard slopestyle World Cup in Calgary on Saturday.
Toutant, of L'Assomption, Que., an Olympic champion at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games, scored 86.86 in his second run to secure the victory.
With Toutant included, five accomplished snowboarders — Mark McMorris, Max Parrot, Liam Brearley and Darcy Sharpe — are fighting for four Olympic spots in slopestyle and big air.
None have reached the podium in two big air World Cup events this season. Calgary's Snow Rodeo represents the first of three slopestyle events on the schedule before Beijing 2022.
WATCH l Sebastien Toutant captures gold in World Cup snowboard slopestyle competition:
Mons Roisland of Norway had an 84.50 effort in his second run for silver. Luke Winkelmann of the U.S. took bronze having achieved an 83.20 score in his first go.
McMorris finished 1.24 shy of a podium place in fourth.
In the women's event, Laurie Blouin captured bronze for her first World Cup podium since winning gold on the same hill in 2020.
Kokomo Murase (77.58) and Miyabi Onitsuka (77.18), both from Japan, claimed gold and silver, respectively.
Blouin was the only Canadian woman competing in the final.
WATCH l Laurie Blouin earns bronze in World Cup snowboard slopestyle: