Canada’s snowboarders wrapped up the 2026 Milan–Cortina Winter Olympics with plenty to be proud of. Eliot Grondin, whom Ottawa Life interviewed in February, captured a silver in men’s snowboard cross, adding to the country’s strong showing on the slopes. After the games, we caught up with two athletes who also displayed greatness in the slopestyle category: Cameron Spalding and Laurie Blouin.
As a kid in Bridgenorth, Ontario, Cameron Spalding learned how to snowboard when his dad constructed a miniature terrain park. “I think it started with him and his buddies building rails for wakeboarding in front of our cottage,” recalled Cameron. Having a course right outside the door proved useful for the Spalding family, with Cameron’s younger siblings, Avery and Wyatt, also developing a prowess for snowboarding.
Cameron won his first gold medal at a regional event when he was six. Throughout his teens, he progressed by training at his local club, Simple Snowboarding, and started competing internationally. In 2025, he was awarded the Crystal Globe in Men’s Slopestyle, a prestigious award for the most accomplished athlete in a given season of FIS Snowboard competitions.
The 20 year old attributes his success as a snowboarder to his mental game. “I think one of my biggest strengths is my mindset. It’s super important to manage my emotions”. To maintain his cool-headed approach to competition, Cameron cites box breathing as a useful technique for focusing.
After making Team Canada last year, Cameron made his Olympic debut in February. “It was such a cool experience to see how the Olympics can pull off such a large-scale production”, said Cameron, who competed in both the men’s big air and slopestyle categories. “Its definitely different from other competitions, because there’s way more media attention. I think it was a great learning experience to feel the nerves of competing in front of the whole world”
When he wasn’t competing, Cameron was enjoying the experience of being an Olympic athlete. “We did a lot of riding, just cruising on the mountainsides. Lots of time in the gym and spa for recovery so we could be ready”, he reminisced. A highlight for Cameron was spending lots of time with other athletes he admired. “Mark McMorris was my idol growing up, so it was pretty insane to have him as my roommate in Milan.”
While he didn’t qualify in big air, he pulled off an impressive performance in slopestyle, coming in 10th place, slightly behind McMorris in 8th. Reflecting on his performance, Cameron said: “I definitely left some to be desired. At the end of the day, I had a great time and left feeling healthy, but you can always get better”.
Now that he’s back from the Olympics, Cameron doesn’t plan on taking a long vacation. “We have a contest going on in Austria in the middle of March, so I’ll spend two weeks chilling before getting right back into it.” When asked what drives him, Cameron said: “We’ve only got so much time in our prime. Gotta make the most of it”.
As he continues his career on the slopes, Cameron will continue posting Follow Cam videos about his experiences on his YouTube channel.
Laurie Blouin, a snowboarder in the women’s slopestyle division, grew up in Stoneham, Quebec. “I started snowboarding when I was 5 or 6 years old”, said Laurie. “I was always following my big brother around and copying him, so when he started snowboarding, I decided that I wanted to as well.”
She would soon overtake her brother in skill, seeing early success in various competitions and finding mentorship from the likes of veteran snowboard coach Max Henault. She made her Olympic debut at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, where she earned Canada a silver medal.
Throughout her career, Laurie has seen significant growth in women’s snowboarding. “When I started, there definitely weren’t as many women out there in the sport. Julia Marino, Anna Gasser and I were trying to push the sport forward,” she recalled. “Now, you see many more women landing triple flips, and more who are getting into the sport. It’s really awesome”.
In February, Laurie attended her third and likely last Olympic Games in Milan, where she came fifth in women’s slopestyle. “The course was a bit challenging, as the snow wasn’t too ideal for speed, but I’m still stoked about how I placed,” said Laurie. “It was probably my favourite Olympics vibes-wise, because Europe has the best snowboarding slopes and infrastructure”.
Much like Cameron, Laurie’s favourite part of the Olympic experience was socializing with the other athletes. “A great memory was spending time with a teammate and her family at an après-bar, and just getting hyped up before the qualifiers”, said Laurie.
At 29, Laurie plans to shift her career after the Olympics. “This year I’ve still got some international competitions coming up, but I’m gonna start choosing the ones I wanna do rather than doing all of them” said Laurie. “I’ve been doing jumps over airbags for so long now, I’d like to get into more backcountry and other winter activities”.
With a highly accomplished career under her belt, Laurie Blouin looks forward to her next challenges and sees her performance at the Milan games as a satisfying final appearance at the highest international stage.
Photos: via @LaurieBlouinSnowboarder and @cameronspalding
