A veteran of two Olympics already, Canadian snowboard cross racer Eliot Grondin has a real feel for his sport.
With four competitors hurtling down an icy course at speeds that can exceed 80 km/h, anything can happen and often does. Preparation is all-important.
“There are a lot of things you can’t control. So you’ve just got to become good at controlling what you can,” Grondin said simply.
Like a Formula One racer, line is all-important in snowboard cross. And Grondin usually knows where he’s going.
“I could probably go (down the course) almost with my eyes closed,” he said matter-of-factly. “Pretty close.”
And it doesn’t take the 24-year-old from Saint-Marie, Que., long to know how the run is unfolding.
“You know right away. I can feel the difference between two-tenths slower or not,” he said.
While excellent out of the start gate, Grondin says he doesn’t spend much time working on the start.
“I could, but I feel like there’s other areas where I can be gaining more ground. So I’m a bit more focused on those areas,” explained Grondin, adding that the start just comes naturally for him.
Maelle Ricker, who won gold in snowboard cross at the Vancouver Olympics and is now co-head coach of the Canadian snowboard cross team, says Grondin has all the attributes to succeed in the sport.
“He’s a machine, like a beast physically,” she said. “He has really good touch on the snow, and then he’s a competitor. When he’s in the (starting) gate, there’s only one thing on his mind, and he’s got good instincts to be able to react and make decisions on the course.”
Grondin’s goal at the Milan Cortina Games is simple — complete his medal collection.
Four years ago in Beijing, Grondin won silver in snowboard cross in a photo finish behind Austria’s Alessandro Haemmerle. At 20 years 297 days, Grondin was the youngest-ever Olympic medallist in men’s snowboard cross.
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He then teamed up with Meryeta O’Dine to take bronze in the first Olympic mixed team snowboard cross event.
Grondin was just 16 when he made his Olympic debut in 2018, finishing 36th. He was the youngest man and second-youngest Canadian athlete at Pyeongchang.
He has risen to the top since then. The reigning world champion in snowboard cross, Grondin has won back-to-back Crystal Globes and reached the World Cup podium 16 times throughout 2024-25.
World Cup competition has been sparse ahead of the Olympics, however.
Grondin placed seventh at a World Cup stop in Cervinia, Italy, on Dec. 13 and finished 10th a day later with Audrey McManiman in the mixed team event.
He was not a fan of the track in Italy, saying there wasn’t much to work with and noting a lot of the top riders did not do well there. Haemmerle, for one, finished 17th while France’s Loan Bozzolo and Austria’s Jakob Ducek, who finished second and third behind Grondin in the 2025 World Cup standings, placed 18th and 20th, respectively.
“So for sure I would have wanted to do better,” said Grondin. “But in the end, I was still quite happy because I had a great week. I was consistent time-wise all week, I had some good speed. We figured out some stuff with the equipment as well, so there’s positives with that. Seventh place isn’t where I wanted to be, but if I can take something from it, then at least we’ve done something right.”
After Italy, Grondin trained in Australia and Japan before heading to a World Cup event in Dongbeiya, China, where he recorded second- and fifth-place finishes Jan. 17 and 18.
While he enjoys the travel, he acknowledges struggling to stay within the airline’s weight limit when it comes to baggage.
He doesn’t travel light, saying he has some 20 boards with him in Europe — a load eased by the fact that the equipment can move via truck or car. In flying to China, he chose eight snowboards to bring with him after studying the weather that lay ahead.
“They’re all built the same — same stiffness, same length, same everything,” he said. “The difference is the base material and the grind on the base. So those will be made to (handle) all the different temperatures and snow conditions we’ll get. So that’s how we choose for each race, what board’s best.
“So you always have two, three, four snowboards that are really good in all conditions. Obviously, you always have a favourite board because you tend to race always one board more than all the others.”
The team has a bank of data on which board works best where, and on what. Combine that with team technicians, whom Grondin calls “magicians,” and the competitors “can really dial in the setup from there.”
The course in Livigno will be a new challenge, given that no one has raced there before.
“It’s cool,” said Grondin. “For me, I like new venues. I feel I can adapt pretty quickly to new races. Everybody kind of has a bit of an idea of what it’s going to look like. But, for sure, it’s pretty exciting to be able to put your feet down on the track and basically see who can learn the track the fastest.”
Like most athletes who competed in Beijing, he is looking forward to having family and friends on hand to cheer him on at these games.
Whatever happens, he is enjoying the ride.
“It’s cool. I love doing it,” he said of his sport. “Having the opportunity to be able to live what I love, travel the world and train. There’s worse, for sure. I’m pretty fortunate to enjoy what I do.”
Canada Snowboard Cross Team
Evan Bichon, Mackenzie, B.C.; Tess Critchlow, Kelowna, B.C.; Eliot Grondin, Sainte-Marie, Que.; Audrey McManiman, Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Que.; Liam Moffatt, Truro, N.S.; Meryeta O’Dine, Prince George, B.C.
Alternate: James Savard-Ferguson, Baie-St-Paul, Que.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2026