It was a race and moment to remember for Meryeta O’Dine of Prince George.
Just before midnight Tuesday (Feb 8th) Pacific time, which was just before 4:00 p.m. Wednesday (Feb 9th) in Beijing, O’Dine captured a bronze medal in the Olympic women’s snowboard cross final.
The 24-year-old O’Dine, ranked 12th in the World Cup standings this season, won her first-round, quarterfinal, and semifinal races to advance to the final four where she placed third.
She was making her Olympic debut and became the first athlete from Prince George to win an Olympic medal.
O’Dine, who lost her brother to cancer two years ago, was forced to withdraw from the 2018 Winter Olympics after suffering the fifth concussion of her career following a crash in practice just a couple of days before she was to compete.
The second-best Canadian in the competition was Tess Critchlow of Big White, B.C. who finished 6th.
The 26-year-old Critchlow was born in Prince George.
The next Olympic race for O’Dine will be the mixed team snowboard cross event on Saturday.
Canada won another Olympic medal today (Wednesday) as short-track-speedskater Steven Dubois of Terrebonne, Quebec took silver in the men’s 1,500 metres.
Canadian athletes have eight medals, one gold, two silver, and five bronze after five full days of competition.
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