UPDATE: Tess Critchlow finished sixth in the women’s snowboard cross at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Prince George native Meryeta O’Dine won the bronze medal in the event. It was her first Olympic medal in her Olympic debut. Canada now has five bronze and eight medals total (1-2-5) in the 2022 games so far.
O’Dine made the team for the 2018 games but suffered a concussion two days before the event.
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Big White’s Tess Critchlow is in Beijing partaking in her second Winter Olympic games.
The 26-year-old competes in the snowboard cross event where she finished ninth at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang. She was the top Canadian that year.
To celebrate the hometown Olympian, Big White ski resort put on an event last Saturday (Feb. 5) where participants were encouraged to wear red and snowboard and ski down the mountain together.
Critchlow started snowboarding at two years old and has participated in almost every event at Big White since she was six. In 2013 and 2014, she won back-to-back junior national titles at Big White.
In training for the 2022 games, Critchlow suffered a fully-torn ACL, partially-torn MCL and ruptured meniscus when she overshot a jump. She overcame the injuries and finished seventh at the World Cup in Secret Garden, China, (a venue used for the 2022 winter games) back in late November. That was the first event of the FIS (International Ski Federation) world cup season.
Tonight (February 8, February 9 in Beijing), you can watch Critchlow in the snowboard cross event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic games at 7 p.m. Pacific time. The qualifying portion of the event runs from 7 p.m. to 8:25 p.m. The finals will run from 10 p.m. to 3:40 p.m.
She is one of four Canadians competing in the event tonight.
Snowboard cross is a racing event where four-to-six competitors race down the mountain that’s filled with jumps, bumps, turns and drops.
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