A veteran of two Olympics already, Canadian snowboard cross racer Eliot Grondin has an actual feel for his sport.
With 4 competitors hurtling down an icy course at speeds that may exceed 80 km/h, anything can occur and infrequently does. Preparation is all-important.
“There are a variety of things you may’t control. So that you’ve just got to turn into good at controlling what you may,” Grondin said simply.
Like a Formula One racer, line is all-important in snowboard cross. And Grondin normally 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 understand how the run is unfolding.
“You recognize immediately. I can feel the difference between two-tenths slower or not,” he said.
While excellent out of the beginning gate, Grondin says he doesn’t spend much time working on the beginning.
“I could, but I feel like there’s other areas where I may be gaining more ground. So I’m a bit more focused on those areas,” explained Grondin, adding that the beginning just comes naturally for him.
Maelle Ricker, who won gold in snowboard cross on the Vancouver Olympics and is now co-head coach of the Canadian snowboard cross team, says Grondin has all of the attributes to reach the game.
“He’s a machine, like a beast physically,” she said. “He has really good touch on the snow, after which he’s a competitor. When he’s within the (starting) gate, there’s just one thing on his mind, and he’s got good instincts to find a way to react and make decisions on the course.”
Grondin’s goal on the Milan Cortina Games is easy — complete his medal collection.
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4 years ago in Beijing, Grondin won silver in snowboard cross in a photograph 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 primary Olympic mixed team snowboard cross event.
Grondin was just 16 when he made his Olympic debut in 2018, ending thirty sixth. He was the youngest man and second-youngest Canadian athlete at Pyeongchang.
He has risen to the highest 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, nonetheless.
Grondin placed seventh at a World Cup stop in Cervinia, Italy, on Dec. 13 and finished tenth a day later with Audrey McManiman within 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 variety of the highest riders didn’t do well there. Haemmerle, for one, finished seventeenth while France’s Loan Bozzolo and Austria’s Jakob Ducek, who finished second and third behind Grondin within the 2025 World Cup standings, placed 18th and twentieth, respectively.
“So needless to say I might have desired to do higher,” said Grondin. “But in the long run, I used to be still quite completely happy because I had an excellent week. I used to be consistent time-wise all week, I had some good speed. We discovered some stuff with the equipment as well, so there’s positives with that. Seventh place isn’t where I desired to be, but when I can take something from it, then no less than 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 remain throughout the airline’s weight limit in relation to baggage.
He doesn’t travel light, saying he has some 20 boards with him in Europe — a load eased by the proven fact that the equipment can move via truck or automotive. In flying to China, he selected eight snowboards to bring with him after studying the weather that lay ahead.
“They’re all built the identical — same stiffness, same length, same every part,” he said. “The difference is the bottom material and the grind on the bottom. So those will likely be made to (handle) all the various temperatures and snow conditions we’ll get. In order that’s how we elect for every race, what board’s best.
“So you usually have two, three, 4 snowboards which are really good in all conditions. Obviously, you usually have a favorite board since you are likely to race all the time one board greater than all of the others.”
The team has a bank of knowledge on which board works best where, and on what. Mix that with team technicians, whom Grondin calls “magicians,” and the competitors “can really dial within the setup from there.”
The course in Livigno will likely be a brand new challenge, provided that nobody has raced there before.
“It’s cool,” said Grondin. “For me, I like latest venues. I feel I can adapt pretty quickly to latest races. Everybody type of has a little bit of an idea of what it’s going to appear like. But, needless to say, it’s pretty exciting to find a way to place your feet down on the track and mainly see who can learn the track the fastest.”
Like most athletes who competed in Beijing, he’s looking forward to having family and friends available to cheer him on at these games.
Whatever happens, he’s having fun with the ride.
“It’s cool. I really like doing it,” he said of his sport. “Having the chance to find a way to live what I really like, travel the world and train. There’s worse, needless to say. 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