Local athletes O’Dine, Bichon and Graham returning to snowboard cross national team

Canada Snowboard announced its national snowboard cross teams Thursday for the 2024-25 season and that list of exclusive company includes two Prince George athletes and one from Mackenzie.

Meryeta O’Dine, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist at the 2022 Games in Beijing, is back on the national snowboard cross team.

The 27-year-old is entering her ninth season as a full-time World Cup competitor and is ranked 22nd in the world standings heading into 2024-25.

Last year, O’Dine posted a season-high 10th-place result in Montafon, Austria, on March 6 and was 11th the following week in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, site of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Mackenzie native Evan Bichon, 25, is coming off his best season in seven years on the World Cup circuit. He ended the 2023-24 season with a seventh-place result in Montafon, Austria on March 17, then topped that the following week on Canadian snow in Mont. St. Anne, Que., where he advanced to his first-ever Big Final and finished a career-best fourth.

He heads into the new season ranked 19th in the world.

NextGen team member Colby Graham of Prince George, 22, also finished strong in 2023-24, posting his best World Cup results, 31st and 36th, on the final race weekend in Mont St. Anne.

Graham is ranked 137th in the FIS standings heading into 2024-25.

The eight-stop World Cup snowboard cross tour starts Dec. 13-15 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. The tour also visits Georgia, Czechia, back-to-back stops in Italy, Spain and Austria before it wraps up with the season-ending races April 4-6 in Mont St., Anne, Que.

Eliot Grondin of St-Marie de Beauce, Que., will be back to defend his Crystal Globe title as the 2023-24 FIS points champion, following in the vapour trails of Canada snowboard crossers Jasey-Jay Anderson, who captured the world crown in 2001, 2002 and 2006, and 2007 champion Drew Nielson of North Vancouver.

The national team also includes Audrey McManiman of St-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Que., coming off an injury-plagued season.

Joining Graham in the NextGen snowboard cross team are  Tristan Bell of Gatineau, Que., James Savard-Ferguson of Baie-St-Paul, Que., and Hannah Turkington of Whistler.