By Canadian Press

Olympic silver medallist and X Games champ Blouin headlines World Cup

Mar 13, 2019 | 2:03 PM

Canadian snowboarder Laurie Blouin has made her mark on the slopestyle scene. Her recent big air success has been a nice bonus.

Blouin will be a headliner at this week’s Jamboree festival as the FIS snowboard and freestyle ski circuits make stops in Quebec City for big air competitions. The Olympic slopestyle silver medallist is enjoying another strong season and riding high after her recent X Games big air title in Aspen.

“Just to get there was a dream and to bring back a (gold) medal is unbelievable,” Blouin said. “I’m just super stoked. That just put me in a good mood.

“I’m just really stoked about my season.”

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Blouin’s slopestyle results have slipped a little of late but she feels she has become more consistent in big air. She won world gold in slopestyle two years ago but settled for a ninth-place finish at last month’s world championship in Utah. 

The 22-year-old from Stoneham, Que., had a good run at Park City but a small bobble on her first rail proved costly.

“It’s a judged sport and you can’t do anything about that,” Blouin said. “It happens sometimes. It just sucks that it happened at the world champs, but that’s life.”

The finals were cancelled due to high winds so the qualification round was used to determine the order of finish. The big air competition was scrubbed.

Jasmine Baird of Georgetown, Ont., and Brooke Voigt of Fort McMurray, Alta., also cracked the top 10 at the worlds. Voigt will compete in big air this week along with Oceane Fillion of Saguenay, Que., Marguerite Sweeney of Saint-Basile, Que., Jackie Carlson of Oakville, Ont., and Baily McDonald of Minesing, Ont.

Qualifications are set for Friday and the finals will go Saturday.

Blouin has been working on a frontside 1080 double cork and may try it this week if she makes the finals and conditions are favourable.

“The jump in Quebec is really mellow and it’s not too big,” she said. “(The trick) is really good right now.”

The freestyle skiing big air qualifications will start Thursday.

Local favourite Alex Beaulieu-Marchand won two silver medals at the X Games and bronze in big air at the world championships and Philippe Langevin, a native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., is also enjoying a strong campaign.

Megan Oldham of Parry Sound, Ont., is coming off a World Cup bronze last weekend. Joining her in the women’s field are Yuki Tsubota of Whistler, B.C., and Elena Gaskell of Vernon, B.C. 

The Canadian men’s entry list is rounded out by Alex Bellemare of Saint-Boniface, Que., Etienne Geoffroy-Gagnon of Whitehorse, Teal Harle of Campbell River, B.C., Max Moffatt of Caledon, Ont., Mark Hendrickson of Calgary, Noah Morrison of Vernon, B.C., and Edouard Therriault of Lorraine, Que.

The ski finals will also be held Saturday.

The list of Canadian men’s snowboard entrants includes Toronto’s William Buffey, Francis Jobin of Lac Beauport, Que., John MacDougall of Grande Prairie, Alta., Calgary’s Carter Jarvis, Nicolas Laframboise of Ste-Agathe-Des-Monts, Que., Liam Brearley of Gravenhurst, Ont.

Calgary’s Mateo Massitti, William Izzard of Oakville, Ont., Julien Cannicioni of Neuville, Que., and Jacob Legault of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Que., are also in the field. 

Blouin said Legault is one of the young athletes to watch on the men’s side.

“He just did a backside triple in practice,” she said from Stoneham. “That was his first (time) and he landed it, and he did it twice and landed perfect. I think we have a lot of chances.

“The NextGen guys are pretty good so if they land, I think for sure we have chances for the NextGen to be on the podium.”

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Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press