Meryeta O’Dine’s Olympic dream is alive
After a series of disappointments over the past year on the World Cup snowboard cross circuit, the 24-year-old came oh-so-close to a medal win this weekend on the slopes in Montafon, Austria.
O’Dine finished just 46/100ths of a second behind gold medalist Charlotte Bankes of Great Britain in Friday’s race. Belle Brockhoff of Australia (+0.09) and Chloe Trespeuch of France (+0.18) won silver and bronze respectively.
“Just missed the podium today! 4th place at the Montafon World Cup!” posted O’Dine, on her Facebook site. “After qualifying 3rd, a tight race between 3 great women. I’m happy with how I’m performing.”
You can watch her race right here:
O’Dine is vying for a spot on Canada’s Olympic team for the competition in Beijing, China in February. She made the team for the 2018 Olympic in PyeongChang, South Korea but suffered a concussion in a training run and was unable to compete.
Two weeks ago, on the 2022 Olympic course in Secret Garden, China, O’Dine missed qualifying for the race by five/100ths of a second and finished 17th. Only the top 16 women in qualifying advance to the race and O’Dine has just missed the cut several times in recent memory on the World Cup tour. She was 17th in Bakuriani, Georgia, March 5; did not finish her qualifying run in Reiteralm, Austria, Feb. 16; was 13th in Idre Fjall, Sweden Feb. 12 after qualifying fourth quickest; and placed 17th at Chiesa in Valmalenco, Italy in January 2021.
In Saturday’s mixed team event, O’Dine teamed up with Eliot Grondin of St. Marie, Que., to finish fifth. Italians Lorenzo Sommariva and Michela Moioli won team gold ahead of the Czech Republic and France.
Two other Prince George athletes are competing on the men’s World Cup tour.
Colby Graham posted his best-ever qualifying result in the solo event on Friday when he placed 24th. He moved on the eighth-final round and was eliminated when he finished third. The top two in each heat advance. Evan Bichon of Prince George qualified 55th.
Alessandro Hemmerle of Austria won the race, with Nick Baumgartner of the United States second and Umito Kitchwehm of Germany third. Liam Moffatt of Truro, N.S., was the top Canadian in ninth place. Kevin Hill of Vernon was 17th, and Grondin was 32nd.
In the women’s solo race, Audrey McManiman of St. Ambrose-de-Kildare, Que., was 11th, Tessa Critchlow of Kelowna was 17th and Zoe Bergermann of Erin, Ont., was 22nd.
The next World Cup stop is this Friday and Saturday in Cervenia, Italy
In the leadup to the Olympics in Beijing, Feb 3-19, races are also scheduled for Krasnoyarsk, Russia (Jan. 7-9), Chiesa in Valmalenko, Italy (Jan. 21-22 and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Jan. 28-29).
