Jasmine Baird underfliped 900 on her first jump of the night—and never looked back.

Rider from Georgetown, Ont. won gold in Saturday’s FIS World Cup Big Air event at the Commonwealth Stadium.

Baird headlined a good night for the Canadian team, as Nicolas Laframboise from Saint Jean, Que. won bronze in the men’s number.

Holding the lead via two jumps, Baird cruised last in the final round. She watched as the other six finalists failed to match her score, and to the chants of “Jasmine, Jasmine” from a home crowd of 15,000, she hurtled down a 15-floor man-made slope for the celebratory third jump.

“I’ve never had the luxury of a victory lap before,” said Baird. “My coach came up to me and gave me a hug. I usually don’t like to see other people fall, for some reason. I don’t like to watch the score. But the coach came, I was the last to fall, and he said, ‘Congratulations on your win.'”

While Baird was able to enjoy his third jump, Laframboise knew he had to do something special to make it to the podium.

He has done 16 backside triple corks in practice, but he has never attempted such a highly technical jump in competition. With the podium at stake, he decided this was the time for it.

“I wasn’t planning on doing that trick, which put me back in third,” said Laframboise. “It was a new one for me, so I’m really excited to land it.”

He finished behind gold medal winner Valentino Guseli of Australia and American Chris Corning who won silver.

WATCH | Laframboise claims big aerial bronze:

Laframboise endeared himself to the crowd by donning an Edmonton Oilers jersey when he made the jump.

“If we were in this stadium, I would definitely wear it. It pleases the crowd, I will continue to wear it,” he said.

Baird, whose father was present, said it was the first time he had been able to see him perform live at a World Cup event.

Evy Poppe from Belgium won silver. Reira Iwabuchi, the Japanese rider who won the season-opening event in Switzerland, fell in her first jump but recovered in the final two jumps to claim bronze.

Kokomo Murase of Japan pulled out of Saturday’s competition, adding to the high number of riders turning down Edmonton’s man-made slopes. On Friday, the women’s qualifying session was postponed, then cut to two rounds of three. Only 13 of the 21 drivers scheduled to compete actually made it to the starting gate. Riders have expressed concern about how slow the course is, and that they are struggling to get the air they need to complete their routine.

In the final, Poppe and Iwabuchi were knocked out of the gate by their coach, allowing them to build up enough speed to jump.

“It’s very, very difficult, for sure,” Baird said. “Compared to the boys a lot of our field was lighter than them. With no weight behind us it was harder to get that pace. Everyone was pinning it, everyone was doing their best but it was so tight.

“People were being pushed from behind or launched by their trainers, there was a drag bar there like they do in racing, and I had never seen that before. It was a real challenge.”

Blouin had a big hit in the warm-up

Fellow Canadian Laurie Blouin suffered a heavy loss in her warm-up, and did not make any flips in her first jump attempt. He finished fifth.

The guys also have problems with the slopes.

The jumps are great, but the pace is tight, so you have to do it very straight, said Canadian Cameron Spalding, who finished seventh.

However, Spalding commended the ground crew for doing what they had to do to create what he called an “amazing experience” to stage a World Cup event in Canada’s largest stadium.

Three-time Olympic medalist Mark McMorris of Regina attempted a spectacular triple backside 1800 but failed to land. He finished ninth.