Canadian freestyle skier Therriault captures World Cup bronze in France

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This article was published 16/01/2022 (1347 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FONT-ROMEU-ODEILLO-VIA, France – Canadian freestyle skier Edouard Therriault climbed the World Cup medal podium for the first time in his career on Sunday, capturing bronze in slopestyle.

The 18-year-old from Lorraine, Que., scored 81.71 on his first run, and it held up for third behind Swiss skier Andri Ragettli (86.36) and Ben Barclay of New Zealand (82.71).

“I had my routine set, and I went into it without thinking or worrying too much about what everybody else was going to do,” Therriault said. “I just believed in myself, trusted myself and it worked out great. I’m really happy with my performance. It’s an amazing feeling.”

Therriault showed great range on his first run. He tried to raise the bar on his second run, but was unable to improve his score.

Teal Harle of Campbell River, B.C., was fourth, while Mark Hendrickson of Calgary was fifth.

“We all really wanted to do well leading to the Olympics, and to secure more spots for Canada in future competitions,” Therriault said. “I’m really proud of my team and what we did this weekend – I feel like we outdid ourselves and it’s really fun for Canada. We pulled together.”

Therriault was the world junior slopestyle champion in 2019, and captured silver at the senior world championships in Aspen, Colo., last March in the Big Air event.

He’s heading back to Aspen this coming week to make his X Games debut.

“The X Games have been my dream since I was young, so next weekend is going to be an incredible experience,” Therriault said. “The more the season progresses, the better I feel on my skis, and the better my results are. I really believe I have good momentum right now. As always, my goal is to improve on my own performances, and that’s what I’m going to aim for again.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2022.