Canada’s top snowboarders ready to take on the world in 2024-25
Whether it’s within slopestyle/big air, snowboard cross, halfpipe, or alpine, Team Canada’s snowboarders will be a must-watch this season.
Athletes across all the disciplines will have their Olympic dreams to focus on, as results from this season and next on the FIS World Cup circuit and at the FIS World Championships will determine the Olympic Quota Allocation List, which will be finalized in January 2026.
Here’s a quick glimpse at who and what to watch this season.
Major Competitions in Canada
- FIS World Cup (parallel giant slalom) – Val St. Come, Quebec – February 15-16
- FIS World Cup (halfpipe, slopestyle) – Calgary, Alberta – February 19-23
- FIS World Cup (snowboard cross) – Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec – April 4-6
World Championships
- FIS Snowboard World Championships – Engadin, Switzerland – March 20-29
Who to Watch
Slopestyle/Big Air
A new generation of Canadian slopestyle and big air snowboarders are eager to make their mark. Liam Brearley, 21, will seek to duplicate his success from last season, which saw him become Canada’s first ever Crystal Globe winner in snowboard slopestyle as he topped the men’s FIS World Cup standings.
Cameron Spalding, 19, will also hope to build on his momentum, notching his first World Cup victory in September in Cardrona, New Zealand. Just getting started on the elite circuit is 16-year-old Eli Bouchard who was a double medallist at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games and big air bronze medallist at the 2024 FIS Junior World Championships
Three-time Olympic medallist Mark McMorris is the national team veteran and continues to be one to watch. McMorris has 22 Winter X Games medals (the most of any athlete), is a three-time FIS World Championships medallist, and has nine World Cup podiums to his name. McMorris is also known for his ability to come back after tough injuries–he most recently broke his orbital bone and nose toward the end of last season.
On the women’s side, look out for Laurie Blouin and Jasmine Baird. Two-time Olympian Blouin is a two-time world champion, six-time X Games medallist, and enters this season with 12 career World Cup podiums. Beijing 2022 Olympian Baird enters this season with seven career World Cup podiums. She made her Winter X Games debut last season, placing sixth in big air.
Snowboard Cross
Last season saw Eliot Grondin claim the Crystal Globe as the overall FIS World Cup champion in men’s snowboard cross, thanks to a brilliant campaign that included seven victories and three other podiums. He heads into the 2024-25 season with 19 career World Cup podiums. He also carries the experience that came with winning two Olympic medals at Beijing 2022.
One of those medals was won in team snowboard cross with Meryeta O’Dine, who took the 2022-23 season off before returning to the World Cup circuit last winter. Re-joining her on the women’s side is Beijing 2022 Olympian Audrey McManiman, who is coming back after missing last season due to ACL surgery on her left knee.
The men’s national team additionally includes Liam Moffatt and Evan Bichon, both of whom are seeking that World Cup podium breakthrough after each posted a fourth-place finish last season.
Halfpipe
This season will welcome Elizabeth Hosking back into the halfpipe after she missed the 2023-24 season due to injury. The two-time Olympian won silver at the 2023 FIS World Championships for Canada’s first ever world championship medal in women’s snowboard halfpipe. She heads into this season with two career World Cup podiums.
Nineteen-year-old Brooke D’Hondt will also be one to keep an eye on. The rising star and Beijing 2022 Olympian made her Winter X Games debut in 2020 at only 14 years old. She finished fifth in the 2023-24 World Cup halfpipe standings.
Beijing 2022 Olympian Liam Gill broke into the top 10 at a FIS World Cup event for the first time last season, placing eighth at the prestigious Laax Open in Switzerland in January. Still just 21, he is an inspiration to Indigenous youth that he aims to reach through his snowboarding.
Alpine
Team Canada fans will celebrate the return of Beijing 2022 Olympian Megan Farrell, who suffered a severe head injury in January 2023, ending her 2022-23 season. Lingering symptoms prevented her full participation in the 2023-24 season as well. It was only weeks before her crash that she had earned her first career FIS World Cup PGS podium.
Newer to the World Cup circuit is 19-year-old Aurélie Moisan. At the 2024 FIS Junior World Championships, she was a double gold medallist in parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom. Canada’s top-ranked woman on the World Cup circuit last season was another Beijing 2022 Olympian, Kaylie Buck.
The top-ranked Canadian man is Arnaud Gaudet, who won bronze at the 2023 FIS World Championships. Though it came in the non-Olympic event of parallel slalom (only parallel giant slalom is on the Olympic program), it was Canada’s first world championship medal in any alpine snowboard event since 2009.
