Follow the Olympic Games on RDS and Sportish
Quebecer Eliot Grondin tried everything with a spectacular dive to win the gold medal, but it was still with a well-deserved silver medal that he finished the snowboard cross event at the Beijing Olympics.
As usual in previous races, the 20-year-old rider from Canada had a great start to take the lead in the final. He was overtaken halfway by the Austrian Alessandro Haemmerler.
After avoiding a costly collision, Grondin attempted a final push on the jump before the finish. He lifted his board, even falling with that dive, as he crossed the finish line. A photo was necessary to decide between the winner and Grondin finally finished two hundredths from the first step of the podium. It’s still a tasty silver medal for the one who finished in 36and rank in 2018 in PyeongChang. Grondin thus offers a 10th medal at these Games for Canada a few moments after the bronze medal of skier James Crawford.
The Italian Omar Visintin finished in third place and the Austrian Julian Lueftner had to forget a medal with a fourth position.
Grondin dominated the heats, easily winning his semi-final and quarter-final wave. The Quebecer had a tough fight with the Austrian Alessandro Haemmerle, but it was the snowboarder from Canada who offered the victory. In the quarter-finals, the fate seemed cast from the start as he took a comfortable lead over his competitors Merlin Surget, Loan Bozzolo and Cameron Bolton. He completed the course without a problem to take first place.
Grondin finished first in his round of 16 heat to reach the next round. They were only three riders in this race and the Canadian was ahead of the Frenchman Merlin Surget and the Australian Adam Lambert. He was the only Canadian to advance to the quarter-finals as Liam Moffatt finished third in his heat and Kevin Hill was the last to cross the finish line.
The 20-year-old Quebecer started the competition strong with the best time of the 32 snowboarders during the qualifications. He was the only competitor to clock under 1 min 17 seconds with a recorded time of 1:16.29.
The Canadians will no doubt want to take inspiration from their compatriot Meryeta O’Dine who won the bronze medal at this competition the day before.
Aged 24, Moffatt was competing in his first Olympics. He finished eighth at the 2021 Worlds, presented to Idre Fjall, Sweden.
A 35-year-old veteran, Hill is in his third Games. He finished eighth in Sochi and 14th in Pyeongchang. Hill won silver at the 2015 Worlds and bronze two years later. He finished in 15th position in 2021.
