Canada's Meryeta O'Dine wins Olympic bronze in snowboard cross

Feb 9 2022, 7:55 am

Meryeta O’Dine has won Canada’s seventh medal of the Beijing Olympics.

The 24-year-old from Prince George, BC won bronze in snowboard cross, finishing 0.48 seconds behind USA’s Lindsey Jacobellis, who won gold. France’s Chloé Trespeuch is taking home silver.

“It’s honestly pretty surreal right now. I came in here with a pretty big mission,” O’Dine told CBC television after the race. “I honestly kept on telling myself that it was going to be my day today.”

O’Dine came away empty handed four years ago in Pyeongchang at age 20. She’s the first Canadian to earn an Olympic medal in snowboard cross since Dominique Maltais won silver at Sochi 2014.

Canada’s medal haul in Beijing now consists of one gold, one silver, and five bronze.

O’Dine has dealt with tragedy for the past couple of years, beginning in March 2020, when her brother Brandon lost his battle with cancer. The Canadian snowboarder struggled with anxiety and depression, saying she needed to relearn how to be an Olympic-level athlete.

After a one-year hiatus, O’Dine returned to the World Cup circuit in January 2021, and now she has an Olympic medal to call her own.

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