Éliot Grondin captures world championship title in snowboard cross

Team Canada’s Éliot Grondin can add another huge career milestone to his resume—world champion.

The 23-year-old from Sainte-Marie, Quebec won his first senior world championship title in men’s snowboard cross at the 2025 FIS Snowboard World Championships in Engadin, Switzerland on Friday. It is his second time standing on a world championship podium, having won bronze in 2021.

The world title solidifies Grondin’s top status in snowboard cross. The Canadian took the Crystal Globe last year as the number one-ranked athlete in the men’s FIS World Cup standings. He sits comfortably atop this season’s standings with a 141-point lead over his closest competitor, Loan Bozzolo of France. The Crystal Globe will be awarded at the final World Cup event of the season, fittingly taking place on home snow for Grondin, at Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec, April 4-6.

Grondin was strong out of the start in Engadin, getting out the fastest over the first set of features on the course. He slipped back to third as the two Austrians in the final, Alessandro Haemmerle and Jakob Dusek, worked together to position themselves at the front. But the two Austrians came together a bit too closely, making slight contact on the outer edge of the course, providing Grondin with the opportunity to seize the lead in the final stretch. Bozzolo was also able to take advantage of the opening to snag the silver medal. Haemmerle took bronze, followed by Dusek in fourth.

Grondin was only 16 years old when he made his Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018—the second youngest athlete on Team Canada at those Games. At Beijing 2022, Grondin was a double medallist. He took silver in a photo finish in men’s snowboard cross, where he was just barely edged out by Haemmerle, as well as bronze in the first ever mixed team snowboard event with teammate Meryeta O’Dine. O’Dine finished just off the podium in fourth in the women’s snowboard cross in Engadin. That is her career best world championship result.

The mixed team snowboard cross event at the world championships will take place on Saturday.