With Revelstoke hosting the Natural Selection Tour (NST) finals for its third year, B.C. talent was well represented on the podium Saturday as two Canadian backcountry snowboarders landed top three.
Whistler’s Brin Alexander soared to second place for the men’s bracket in the March 14 championship round in Mount Mackenzie’s Montana Bowl, and Whistlerite Billy Pelchat nabbed third place for women’s.
Alexander rode some of the “biggest and boldest freeride lines of the competition” in a showdown against U.S. champion Nils Mindnich, from Stowe, Vt., charging into a massive double-cliff drop he landed clean for a score of 85.3
In the semifinals, Alexander earned a 92 off another massive cliff drop to mark the second-highest men’s score of the day, then kicked off the final round with a double backflip. Behind him in third was Norway’s Torstein Horgmo.
READ: B.C. snowboarders staying true to themselves ahead of Revelstoke NST finals
Pelchat, an 18-year-old NST rookie, commenced her semifinal round with a cab 540, “showing composure beyond her years in her first Natural Selection finals appearance.”
Despite making minor errors along the lower cliff life, she blended freestyle tricks to stay in the top three behind winner Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand and runner-up Šárka Pančochová of Czechia.
In total, four Canadian riders faced off among the final 12 of 24 in Saturday’s championship round.
Revelstoke’s Matteo Massitti didn’t make it as far as fellow Canadian competitors, but ended on a high note with a huge traveling 360 over the lower cliff band.
Mark McMorris, of Regina, meanwhile, made history by pulling off a perfectly-executed 1080 — the first time this move has been landed in the big natural features on an NST venue in the event’s six years running.
To watch the 2026 NST livestream from Saturday, visit redbull.com/ca-en/events/natural-selection-tour-snowboard.