Canada’s Eliot Grondin and Meryeta O’Dine won the bronze medal in mixed snowboard cross at the Beijing Winter Games on Saturday.
The event made its Olympic debut in Beijing, with pairs of one man and one woman racing back-to-back for a spot on the medal podium.
Grondin and O’Dine had already claimed the silver and bronze, respectively, in individual competition earlier in the week.
As he was in his earlier event, Grondin was the fastest out of the gate in every round of mixed competition, creating big leads in the earlier rounds. Yet he was finally outpaced in the final and finished third behind American Nick Baumgartner and Italy’s Omar Visintin.
That meant O’Dine lost the advantage she had in the quarterfinals and semifinals, as the women started staggered depending on the speed of their teammates.
O’Dine battled for second position but fell halfway through her run after colliding with Italy’s Caterina Carpano, yet the Canadian still managed to cross in third position.
Baumgartner’s teammate Lindsey Jacobellis brought home her second gold for the U.S. in Beijing, while Visintin and Michela Moioli of Italy nabbed silver.
Jacobellis narrowly lost the gold at the 2006 Games in Turin and has tried to claw her way back to the podium ever since, with Beijing finally giving her redemption.
Fellow Canadians Liam Moffatt and Tess Critchlow were knocked out in the quarterfinals after finishing third in their heat.
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