Canadian freestyle skier McEachran wins bronze medal at World Cup slopestyle event
Fellow Canadian Elena Gaskell finishes 5th in women's event
Evan McEachran scored a bronze medal at the World Cup freestyle skiing slopestyle competition in Laax, Switzerland, on Saturday.
The native of Oakville, Ont., was in fifth place after his first run, but scored a second-round best 82.70 points to climb onto the podium.
Norway's Birk Ruud (85.08) won gold while Austria's Matej Svancer (84.08) took silver.
The 28-year-old is set for his third Olympics at the upcoming Milan Cortina Games after representing Canada in 2018 and 2022.
The men's slopestyle event begins Feb. 7 and finishes Feb. 10 in Livigno, Italy.
On the women's side, China's Eileen Gu won gold with a score of 85.13. American Maarin hamill (71.38) and Austria's Lara Wolf (67.85) rounded out the podium with silver and bronze, respectively.
The top Canadian was Elena Gaskell, of Vernon, B.C., who finished fifth with a top score of 62.75.
Women's halfpipe
Later Saturday in Laax, Canadian snowboarder Elizabeth Hosking finished sixth in the women's halfpipe. The 24-year-old from Longueuil, Que., was fourth after the first run but fell near the end of her second.
South Korea's Gaon Choi won gold, Japan's Rise Kudo took silver and China's Cai Xuetong earned bronze.