It's not official yet, but Meryeta O'Dine has a lock on a spot on Canada's Olympic team bound for Pyongchang, South Korea in February.
The 20-year-old snowboard cross racer from Prince George racked up her sixth top-10 World Cup finish of the season Friday, finishing 10th out of 37 female athletes in the race in Cervinia, Italy.
O'Dine, who qualified fifth for the event, has finished 10th or better in all six World Cup events this season and is ranked seventh overall as the top Canadian in the world standings with 1,700 points. Defending world champion Lyndsey Jacobellis of Vermont leads with 3,380 points.
O'Dine just missed advancing to the semifinal round Friday, finishing third in her quarterfinal heat. Carle Brennaman of Comox was the top Canadian woman, finishing seventh. Brennaman advanced to the small final but did not finish that race.
Michele Moioli of Italy captured gold, Kelly Moenne Loccoz of France won silver and Chloe Trespeuch of France was the bronze medalist.
Other Canadian women's results Friday were as follows: Zoe Bergermann, Erin, Ont., 12th; Tessa Critchlow, Kelowna, 26th; Audrey McManiman of Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Que., 30th; Kate Anderson, Jafray, B.C., 33rd; Haily Moyer, King City, Ont., 34th.
Kevin Hill of Vernon was the top Canadian male in Friday's race, finishing 11th. Italian Omar Visintin won the men's race. Pierre Vaultier of France and World Cup points leader Alex Pullin of Australia were second and third respectively.
Other results for Canadian men in Cervinia were: Baptiste Brochu, Saguenay, Que., 22nd; Eliot Grondin, Ste-Marie, Que., 26th; Christopher Robanske, Calgary, 58th; Danny Bourgeois, Rosemere, Que., 68th out of 79 starters.
O'Dine started the World Cup season in the Southern Hemisphere in La Parva, Chile where she won her first World Cup event, Aug. 25. In September she placed fourth and 10th in individual races in Cerra Catedral, Argentina.
Two weeks ago in Val Thorens, France, she finished seventh. On Dec. 17 in Montafon, Austria, O'Dine qualified third, then posted an eight-place individual result and was second in the team event with Bergermann.
The Canadian Olympic team qualifying period for the four snowboard disciplines (snowboard cross, parallel giant slalom, slopestyle/big air and halfpipe) is based on results in World Cups and the world championships, from July 1, 2016-Jan. 14, 2018.
The Olympic snowboard cross event is open to 40 males and 30 females and Canada can send a maximum of four women and four men, with a limit of 14 athletes per gender in the four snowboard disciplines combined. To be eligible, Canadian athletes must have at least one top-30 World Cup finish and at least 100 FIS points.
The women's snowboard cross events for the Olympics in Pyeongchang are scheduled for Feb. 14, with the men's races on Feb. 15. Three World Cup stops lead up to those dates - Jan. 19-21 in Erzurum, Turkey; Jan. 27 in Bansko, Bulgaria; and Feb. 2-4 in Feldberg, Germany.
Prince George's path to the Winter Olympics
Snowboard cross racer Meryeta O'Dine might not be the only Prince George athlete heading for the Olympics in Pyongchang.
Biathlete Megan Tandy, 29, is shooting for her third-straight Olympic competition and still holds a spot on the Canadian team, based on her World Cup results from last year.
Tandy, who competed in Sochi in 2014 and Vancouver/Whistler in 2010, started the season racing on Canada's B team on the IBU Cup circuit with Sarah Beaudry of Prince George. She helped Canada to an eighth-place finish in the Olympic relay in Sochi. Her best individual result came at Whistler, where she placed 36th in the pursuit.
The Winter Olympic ties to Prince George date back to the 1968 Games in Grenoble, France, where cross-country skier Rolf Pettersen finished 61st in the men's 30-kilometre mass start race and was part of the relay team that placed 14th.
Tony Fiala of Prince George, a native of Quesnel, represented Canada at the 1992 Winter Olympics in biathlon. He was part of the 10th-place relay team in Albertville, France and finished 26th in the individual race.
Long track speedskating brothers Neal and Kevin Marshall grew up in Prince George racing with the Prince George Blizzard club. Neal competed in three Olympics (1992, 1994, and 1998), finishing as high as seventh in the 1,500m in 1994 In Lillehammer, Norway. Kevin was a two-time Olympian, in 1998 and 2002.
Tuppy Hoehn (nee Collard), who grew up in Vanderhoof and now lives in Prince George, competed in biathlon at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Her top result was a 38th-place finish in the sprint.
In 2002, Scott Bellavance of Prince George finished sixth in the men's moguls event at the Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2006 in Turin, Italy, Chris Wong of Prince George also made the Olympic moguls final round and placed 14th.
