At the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Mark McMorris of Regina, Saskatchewan, was not competing at 100%. He broke his rib at the 2014 Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado and then shocked the world when he not only competed in Sochi with the injury but won the Olympic bronze as well in men’s slopestyle snowboarding.
At the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, McMorris will have the opportunity to compete for gold in not one, but two events. In addition to competing in the men’s slopestyle snowboarding event, McMorris will be competing in the men’s big air, which will be making its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang.
Olympic Snowboarding Preview
However, the fact that McMorris is even competing for Canada at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games is a remarkable story. In March of 2017, Mark McMorris was snowboarding with friends in British Columbia, when he had an accident. The injuries McMorris suffered were a broken jaw, broken arm, ruptured spleen, broken pelvis, another broken rib and a collapsed lung. With so many injuries, some were actually surprised that McMorris survived.
But McMorris came back and delivered a big air win in Beijing on November 25. That was followed by a bronze medal in men’s slopestyle at the 2018 Winter X Games in Aspen.
Canadian snowboarding fans will also have Max Parrot of Cowansville, Quebec to cheer for. Parrot won his fifth career gold medal at the Winter X Games last month in Aspen when he reached the top of the podium in the big air. It was the third consecutive season that Parrot won Winter X Games big air gold, making him a strong contender to challenge McMorris for Olympic gold in Pyeongchang.
It should be noted that McMorris and Parrot are comfortable on the Olympic course in Alpensia. McMorris won gold and Parrot won silver at a World Cup in South Korea on November 26. Meanwhile, Tyler Nicholson of North Bay, Ontario finished fourth.
In Saturday’s qualification for the finals in men’s slopestyle snowboarding, McMorris, Parrot, Nicholson and Sebastian Toutant of l’Assomption, Quebec, all finished in the top ten. Parrot had the highest qualification score of 87.36 points.
Parallel Giant Slalom
There is another great Canadian sports story developing in the men’s parallel giant slalom. On January 26 in Bansko, Bulgaria, Canadian Olympic gold medalist Jasey Jay Anderson of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec won a gold medal at a World Cup at age 42! Anderson won his Olympic gold medal eight years ago at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, and many people then thought that was Anderson’s final Olympics.
Women’s Snowboarding
In women’s snowboarding, Laurie Blouin of Stoneham, Quebec won the gold medal in women’s slopestyle snowboarding at the 2017 World Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain. Blouin finished in second in qualification at last year’s World Championship, only behind Miyabi Onitsuka of Japan. Then in the finals, Blouin posted a score of 78 points to beat Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of the Netherlands by half a point.
It will now be interesting to see how healthy Blouin will be however in the women’s slopestyle snowboarding. That is because she had a serious fall in training and needed to be carried off in a stretcher.
Here are my Olympic predictions in women’s snowboarding:
Men’s Big Air:
GOLD–Mark McMorris–Canada
SILVER–Marcus Kleveland–Norway
BRONZE–Max Parrot–Canada
Event: Feb. 23 @ 8 pm ET/5 pm PT (final)
Men’s Halfpipe:
GOLD–Shaun White–United States
SILVER–Ayumu Hirano–Japan
BRONZE–Scotty James–Australia
Event: Feb. 13 @ 8:30 pm ET/5:30 pm PT (final)
Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom:
GOLD–Nevin Galmarini–Switzerland
SILVER–Andreas Prommegger–Austria
BRONZE–Edwin Coratti–Italy
Event: Feb. 23– Round of 16 @ 10:15 pm ET/7:15 pm PT; Quarterfinals @ 10:38 pm ET/7:38 pm PT; Semi-Finals @ 10:52 pm ET/7:52 pm PT; Finals @ 11:04 pm ET/8:04 pm PT
Men’s Slopestyle:
GOLD–Marcus Kleveland–Norway
SILVER–Mark McMorris–Canada
BRONZE–Seppe Smitts–Belgium
Event: Feb. 10 @ 8 pm ET/5 pm PT (final)
Men’s Snowboard Cross:
GOLD–Pierre Vaultier–France
SILVER–Omar Visintin–Italy
BRONZE–Alessandro Haemmerle–Austria
Event: Feb. 15– Quarterfinals @ 12:04 am ET/9:04 pm PT (Feb. 14); Semi-Finals @ 12:25 am ET/9:25 pm PT (Feb. 14); Finals @ 12:41 am ET/9:41 pm PT (Feb. 14)
Women’s Big Air:
GOLD–Anna Gasser–Austria
SILVER–Reira Iwabuchi–Japan
BRONZE–Julia Marino–United States
Event: Feb. 22 @ 7:30 pm ET/4:30 pm PT (final)
Women’s Halfpipe:
GOLD–Chloe Kim–United States
SILVER–Xuetong Cai–China
BRONZE–Jiayu Liu–China
Event: Feb. 12 @ 8 pm ET/5 pm PT (final)
Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom:
GOLD–Ester Ledecka–Czech Republic
SILVER–Alena Zavarzina–Olympic Athletes from Russia
BRONZE–Ramona Theresia Horfmeister–Germany
Event: Feb. 23–Round of 16 @ 10 pm ET/7 pm PT; Quarterfinals @ 10:30 pm ET/7:30 pm PT; Semi-Finals @ 10:48 pm ET/7:48 pm PT; Finals @ 10:58 pm ET/7:58 pm PT
Women’s Slopestyle:
GOLD–Reira Iwabuchi–Japan
SILVER–Christy Prior–New Zealand
BRONZE–Jamie Anderson–United States
Event: Feb. 11 @ 8 pm ET/5 pm PT (final)
Women’s Snowboard Cross:
GOLD–Michela Moioli–Italy
SILVER–Chloe Trespeuch–France
BRONZE–Lindsey Jacobellis–United States
Event: Feb. 15– Quarterfinals @ 10:15 pm ET/7:15 pm PT; Semi-Finals @ 10:36 pm ET/7:36 pm PT; Finals @ 10:52 pm ET/7:52 pm PT
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images
