Team USA’s Jake Canter came away with a bronze medal in the men’s snowboard slopestyle event at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The Evergreen, Colorado, native jumped into podium contention with a 79.36 in his final run, and he was in third place with just one snowboarder left to go. New Zealand’s Dane Menzies, the top qualifier, fell on his final run, cementing Canter’s place on the podium.
China’s Su Yiming, celebrating his 22nd birthday, won gold with an 82.41, while Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa earned silver with an 82.13. Norway’s Marcus Kleveland just missed out on the podium, scoring 0.4 points below Canter on his third run to finish fourth.
Canter is making his Olympic debut in Milan Cortina. He finished 15th in snowboard big air and was 10th in slopestyle qualifying, just one point above the cut line to reach the finals.
American Red Gerard placed sixth with a 76.60 on his first run. He won Olympic slopestyle gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Games when he was just 17 years old, and he finished fourth in the event at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Team USA had another 17-year-old in the event this year in Ollie Martin. The high school senior finished fourth in snowboard big air earlier at the Milan Cortina Games and followed that up with a ninth-place finish in slopestyle.
Canada’s Mark McMorris was attempting to become the first snowboarder to win four Olympic medals in the same event. The three-time slopestyle bronze medalist slipped on his final run, settling for eighth place overall.