Canada grabs four medals at snowboarding world championships in Quebec

STONEHAM, Que. - Canada fell one short of its five-medal target at the FIS Snowboarding World Championships, which wrapped up Sunday north of Quebec City.

But that's still a big improvement over its previous showing at the worlds — in La Molina, Spain, two years ago — when the team returned home with a just one podium finish.

Robert Joncas, Canada's high performance director, says he's satisfied with the results.

Joncas says the team will be aiming for five medals again next year at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

On the men's side, Spencer O'Brien and Mark McMorris won gold and silver, respectively, in the slopestyle event during the first weekend of competition.

For the women, Maelle Ricker won gold and Dominique Maltais took silver in the snowboard cross competition on Saturday.

Ricker, a 34-year-old from Squamish, B.C., is the only Canadian snowboarder guaranteed a spot in Sochi.

Joncas says there's room for improvement as the group gears up for the Olympics, but the building blocks are there.

"We're still very satisfied," he said.

On Sunday, the eight Canadians in the running in the parallel slalom finished off the podium.

In the women's competition, Russia's Ekaterina Zavialova won gold, beating out Patrizia Kummer of Switzerland in the final at the Stoneham Mountain Resort. Germany's Amelie Kober grabbed bronze.

In the men's, the Slovenian Rok Marguc won gold, Justin Reiter of the United States took silver and Roland Fischnaller of Italy got the bronze.