In her final race before she heads to the Olympics, snowboard cross racer Meryeta O’Dine posted her second top-10 World Cup finish of the season Saturday in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
The 24-year-old from Prince George had the eighth-quickest time as the top Canadian qualifier for the night-time race.
In her quarterfinal heat, O’Dine took on World Cup leader Charlotte Bankes of Great Britain, Stacy Gaskill of the United States and Alexia Queryel of France and was eliminated when she finished third behind Bankes and Gaskill.
A top-two finish in each heat is needed to move on to the next round. Only the top 16 women and the top 32 men advance to the heats.
O’Dine placed 10th overall. It was her best result since Dec. 9, when she was fourth in Montafon, Austria.
Bankes advanced to the big final and claimed the bronze medal, while Italian Michela Moioli celebrated a win in her home country. Chloe Trespeuch of France was the silver medalist.
Audrey McManiman of St. Ambrose de Kildare, Que., advanced to the small final and finished eighth overall as the top Canadian. Tess Critchlow of Kelowna was 11th. Zoe Bergermann of Erin, Ont., was 17th in qualifying and did not race in the quarterfinal round.
Martin Noerl of Germany won the men’s race, sharing the podium with silver medalist Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria and Cameron Bolton of Australia, who took bronze.
Liam Moffat of Truro, N.S., placed 19th as the top Canadian. Eliot Grondin of St. Marie, Que., who won the qualifying round Saturday morning, did not start the race and placed 30th out of 52 starters.
In other Canadian results in the men’s event, Kevin Hill of Vernon qualified 39th, Colby Graham of Prince George was 48th and Evan Bichon of Prince George was 49th.
Bankes leads the World Cup standings with 469 points, while Trespeuch ranks second with 390. Critchlow is eighth (166), McManiman is ninth (165), O’Dine is 12th (120) and Bergermann is 19th (77). In the men’s standings, Noerl has 386, 20 ahead of second-place Haemmerle. Grondin is fourth (215) and Moffatt ranks 17th (100), Hill is 29th (47), Bichon is 32nd (42) and Graham is 46th (21).
The Olympic competition snowboard cross starts with women’s qualifying on Wednesday, Feb. 9. The men race their solo event on Thursday, Feb. 10 and a team event is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 12.
After the Olympics, there will be three World Cup events left on the snowboard cross calendar. The tour stops in Mont St. Anne, Que. (Feb 25-27), Reiteralm, Austria (March 10-12) and Veysonnaz, Switzerland (March 20).
