Canada's Éliot Grondin snags snowboard cross silver medal in photo finish

Canada's Éliot Grondin surged to snowboard-cross silver on Thursday at the Beijing Olympics.

Austria's Alessandro Haemmerle won gold in a photo finish, while Italy's Omar Visintin took bronze.

It's the second medal in snowboard cross in as many days for a Canadian after Meryeta O'Dine took bronze in the women's race.

Grondin, 20, is also the second Canadian man to land on the Olympic snowboard cross podium after matching Mike Robertson's 2010 silver medal.

WATCH | Grondin edged by Haemmerle at finish line:

The Sainte-Marie, Que., native was just 16 when he was eliminated in the 1/8-final four years ago at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

But he emerged on the international scene ahead of Beijing, taking bronze at the 2021 world championships and gold at the world juniors.

Grondin also won his semifinal ahead of Haemmerle. As he did for most of the day, Grondin took an early lead out of the gates and through the first section of the course, then held off his competitors from the front of the pack.

However, Haemmerle, in his third Olympics at 28 years old, may have learned something from that race.

The two found themselves in the same position once again in the big final, with Grondin taking the early lead. But the Austrian made his move about midway down the track to go ahead of Grondin.

From there, it was a battle for the young Canadian, who found himself trailing for the first time.

He made some headway on the final jump and slid with his snowboard up at the finish line next to Haemmerle to force the photo finish.

But Haemmerle ultimately won gold by two-hundredths of a second.

Kevin Hill of Vernon, B.C., and Liam Moffatt of Truro, N.S., were both eliminated in the 1/8 final.