Jasmine Baird tops Canadian snowboarders with big air bronze medal in Switzerland
Brooke Voigt 4th while reigning men's world champion Mark McMorris places 5th
Snowboarder Jasmine Baird began her World Cup season and quest to represent Canada at the Beijing Olympics in February with a podium finish in big air on Saturday in Chur, Switzerland.
The 22-year-old from Georgetown, Ont., was top Canadian overall in third. Brooke Voigt of Fort McMurray, Alta., was fourth in the women's event while Regina's Mark McMorris was fifth on the men's side.
Baird scored 148.75 points, only 1.25 behind silver medallist Anna Gasser of Austria. Japan's Kokomo Murase racked up a combined 173.75 points on the first two of her three jumps to top the field of seven finishers.
It was the second big air World Cup medal for Baird, who narrowly beat defending Halaw Snowboard Invitational women's champion Julia Marino of the United States in April 2019.
WATCH | Baird reaches podium in big air season opener:
This past March, Baird placed 22nd in the women's slopestyle event at the world championships in Aspen, Colo.
Voigt, who was 13th in slopestyle at worlds, was a distant fourth on Saturday with 96.25 points. The 27-year-old scored 42.75 on her opening jump and 53.50 on the second.
Boesiger thrills home crowd
Voigt was 17th in women's big air at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea, two years ago after her breakthrough in the event at a World Cup event at Boston's Fenway Park, home to the Red Sox of Major League Baseball.
McMorris, 27, is the reigning men's world champion in big air but struggled mightily in his first two jumps on Saturday, combining for 29.25 points before scoring 82.00 with his final effort.
Switzerland's Jonas Boesiger prevailed before the home crowd with 162.00 points, including an 88.75-point effort on his second jump.
Rene Rinnekangas (141.00) of Finland and Sweden's Sven Thorgren (134.00) rounded out the podium.
McMorris, who scored 179.25 on the way to his big air world title in the spring, is a two-time slopestyle bronze medallist.
WATCH | McMorris golden at worlds in Aspen:
The Chur competition is only the second big air World Cup held in Switzerland, following a 2003 event in Arosa.
The next World Cup legs in big air takes place Dec. 4 at Steamboat Resort in Colorado.
For more coverage of the big air Chur event, tune in to Road to the Olympic Games, immediately following Hockey Night in Canada, at 1:30 a.m. ET on Sunday.
