Meryeta O’Dine of Prince George qualified 12th-quickest Friday for a World Cup snowboard cross race in Gudauri, Georgia.
The 28-year-old O’Dine, a two-time medalist at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, completed the course in 1:07.46 in her second qualifying run. She was one of two Canadian women to qualify for races Saturday and Sunday.
O’Dine, ranked 24th in the World Cup standings, is coming off a 10th-place result Feb. 15 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Audrey McMainiman of Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Que., also made the top 16 to advance in the women’s event, finishing in a time of 1:07.74.
Julia Perreira de Sousa of France set the pace, clocking 1:04.67.
Tess Critchlow of Kelowna missed out by seven-hundredths of a second, finishing right behind 16th-place Kata Mandel of Romania (1:08.00).
The women’s race drew 31 competitors.
In the men’s event, three Canadians made the top-32 cut in qualifying, including Evan Bichon of Prince George.
Australians Cameron Bolton (58.99) and Jarryd Hughes (59.61) topped the list of qualifiers, just ahead of World Cup points leader Eliot Grondin of Sainte-Marie, Que (59.67).
Liam Moffatt of Truro, N.S. (1:00.15) was 16th and Mackenzie native Bichon was 25th (1:01.65).
Colby Graham of Prince George (1:04.83) was 51st out of 57 racers and missed the cut.
You can watch the races streamed live on CBC Gem Saturday starting at 2:30 a.m. PT. Sunday’s race is at 3:30 a.m. PT.
CBC TV will broadcast taped coverage starting at 10 a.m. PT on Saturday.
Don’t forget the clocks move forward by one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
