Snowboarder Arnaud Gaudet of Montcalm, Que., picked up his first individual international medal at the senior level, claiming bronze in men’s parallel slalom small final on Tuesday at the world championships in Bakuriani, Georgia.
The 22-year-old took the early lead against Fabian Obmann of Austria and was .63 seconds quicker to the finish line.
It marked the first parallel snowboard medals at worlds since Jasey-Jay Anderson and Matthew Morrison were first and third, respectively, in parallel giant slalom in 2009.
Gaudet defeated fellow Canadian Darren Gardner in the round of 16 and giant slalom silver medalist Dario Caviezel of Switzerland in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual big final champion Andreas Prommegger in the semifinals.
Gaudet, who ranked 13th in qualifying for Tuesday’s competition, also reached the elimination bracket in Sunday’s parallel large slalom and was 14th after earning bronze in parallel giant slalom at junior worlds in 2020.
Gardner concluded 12th overall while teammates Ben Heldman and Jamie Behan were stopped in qualifying and placed 20th and 35th.
On the women’s side, Abby van Groningen was the lone Canadian competing and concluded 37th in an event won by Julie Zogg of Switzerland.
In an all-Austrian men’s big final on Tuesday, 42-year-old Prommegger defeated Arvid Auner by 44-100ths of a second for his third world title.
