Less than four years after beating cancer, Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot is an Olympic champion.
DOUBLE PODIUM FOR #TEAMCANADA
Max Parrot wins his first Olympic gold, while Mark McMorris wins bronze in snowboard slopestyle
Details https://t.co/H9m2FKRW1b pic.twitter.com/9B5tH1jcbX— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) February 7, 2022
Parrot, from Bromont, Que., won the men’s slopestyle event on Monday to give Canada its first gold medal at the Beijing Games.
“For the past four years, a lot of things have happened with cancer, beating cancer and with COVID, harder to train, travelling, it’s harder than before,” Parrot, who jumped up from his silver-medal showing at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, told CBC.
“So many challenges for the past year. To be up here with the gold means so much.”
Regina’s Mark McMorris won bronze, matching his result from the past two Olympics. China’s Su Yiming took silver.
“Having longevity and consistency in a young man’s sport is hard. I’m honoured to be playing that role and pushing that envelope,” the 28-year-old McMorris told CBC. “2014 bronze, 2018 bronze and now 2022 bronze and competing at a pro level much before the 2014 Olympics. It’s been an incredible run and I appreciate Canada’s support and love. It’s a true honour.”
The 27-year-old Parrot diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December 2018 and underwent chemotherapy for six months. He made his comeback at the X Games in August 2019, winning gold in the big air.
Parrot’s successful fight was recognized Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award in 2021.
Parrot scored 90.96 on a dominant second run on Monday, then challenged his competitors to catch him.
McMorris had the best score of the third run at 88.53 points, but it wasn’t enough to catch his teammate.
Yiming, who had the best score in qualifying, took silver with 88.70.
Sebastien Toutant of L’Assomption, Que., was ninth with 54.00.
“This is actually so incredibly special especially with the run I did today,” Parrot said. “It’s the biggest run I’ve done in my whole career.”
Toutant won gold in the big air event in 2018 and will defend his crown starting Feb. 14.
CBC reported Canada used an old technique — the lucky loonie — to provide a boost at the snowboarding venue.
First used at centre ice of the hockey arena for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics where Canada won the men’s and women’s events, the loonie was placed in the first rails feature by snowboard coach Chris Witwicki.
LUCKY LOONIE
Coach Chris Witwicki placed a loonie in the snow of the first feature at #Beijing2022
THEN Canada went on to win TWO medals in the men’s slopestyle final Max Parrot Mark McMorris pic.twitter.com/v0EvexwMC6— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 7, 2022
Canada now has four medals — one gold, one silver, two bronze — at the Beijing Olympics.
— with files from The Canadian Press
Snowboarder Max Parrot wins Canada’s first gold medal at Beijing Olympics
Source: Pinas Ko Mahal
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