Kris Odegard


Kris Odegard is a Canadian retired racquetball player from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Odegard won four Canadian Championships – two in singles and two in doubles. He also won the 2006 Pan American Championships, which was his first time on Team Canada.

International career

Odegard has made 11 appearances on Team Canada, winning gold his first time out at the 2006 Pan American Championships.
Odegard almost repeated as Pan American Champion, as he reached the final in 2007, but he lost to Mexican Alvaro Beltran. In the 2008 Pan American Championships, Odegard again lost to Beltran, but that time in the semi-finals, resulting in a bronze medal.
Most recently, Odegard was part of the Canadian silver medal men's team at the 2012 World Championships.
Odegard was also bronze medalist at the 2010 Pan Am Championships, losing to Mexican Leopoldo Gutierrez in the semi-finals.
Odegard has two bronze medals in doubles for Canada. In the 2011 Pan Am Championships, Odegard played doubles with Mike Green in Mangua, Nicaragua, where they were bronze medalists, losing in the semi-finals to Americans Jansen Allen and Tony Carson. Then at the 2011 Pan Am Games Odegard played with Tim Landeryou, and they reached the semi-finals, where they lost to Venezelans Cesar Castro and Jorge Hirsekorn.

Canadian career

Odegard won the Canadian Championship in 2007 and 2009. In both finals, he defeated Mike Green. He also reached the finals in 2005, but lost to Corey Osborne.
Odegard was the #1 men's player in Canada from December 10, 2009 to June 22, 2010.
Odegard has won two Canadian Championships in doubles, playing with Green in 2010, when they defeated Vincent Gagnon and François Viens in the final, and 2011, when they defeated Osborne and Francis Guillemette.
As a junior player, Odegard won four Canadian Junior titles in singles and two in doubles. He was also World Junior Champion in Boys U16 in 1997.

Personal life

Odegard's sister, Karina also played racquetball, including on Team Canada. The siblings won a junior worlds mixed doubles title in 1998.
After retiring, Odegard pursued a degree in law, graduating from Thomas Jefferson Law School with an LLB and then got a masters in tax law at Georgetown. He currently works as a tax lawyer in Seattle. Previously, Odegard obtained a degree in education from the University of Saskatchewan and worked as a math teacher in Saskatoon.
In 2018, Odegard was inducted into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2019, he was inducted into Racquetball Canada's Hall of Fame.