Parrot wins silver, McMorris wins bronze in snowboard slopestyle
Team Canada has its first medals of PyeongChang 2018, thanks to Max Parrot and Mark McMorris in snowboard slopestyle.
The duo gave Canada its first ever double podium in an Olympic snowboard event when Parrot captured silver while McMorris claimed bronze on a chilly morning at the Phoenix Snow Park.
Team Canada’s Mark McMorris competes in the snowboard slopestyle final at PyeongChang 2018 Photo: COC/David Jackson
McMorris had taken the lead through the first two runs, earning 85.20 points from the judges. But in an event in which each boarder gets three runs, of which only the top score is counted, there was room for him to be overtaken.
The first man to do that was 17-year-old American Redmond Gerard, who scored 87.16. They stayed first and second until the final man down the course, Parrot. After failing to do a clean run in his first two attempts, he came through in the clutch, getting by his teammate with a score of 86.00.
Max Parrot of Canada wins Silver in the Men’s Slopestyle Final at Phoenix Snow Park during the Pyeonchang Winter Olympics in Gangneug, South Korea on February 11, 2018. (Photo by Jason Ransom/COC)
McMorris adds to the bronze medal he captured four years ago at Sochi 2014, making him Canada’s first male snowboarder to win two Olympic medals. It’s also an amazing recovery from his life-threatening back country snowboarding accident last spring.
Mark McMorris of Canada wins Bronze and Max Parrot of Canada wins Silver in the Men’s Slopestyle Final at Phoenix Snow Park during the Pyeonchang Winter Olympics in Gangneug, South Korea on February 11, 2018. (Photo by Jason Ransom/COC)
The Canadians had dominated the qualification round on Saturday, with Parrot and McMorris placing first and second in the second heat of the day while Tyler Nicholson had been fifth. Sebastien Toutant had finished third in the morning qualification heat. Nicholson ended up seventh in the final with a top score of 76.41 while Toutant finished 11th, posting a 61.08 for his best effort on the day.
