Canada had high hopes for the slopestyle final and Max Parrot put on a dazzling performance to deliver his country’s first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Thanks to a second run close to perfection, Parrot added a gold medal to his Olympic harvest, he who had climbed on the second step of the podium at this event in PyeongChang in 2018. The Canadians were not celebrating only for Parrot since Mark McMorris got the bronze medal. He only needed 17 hundredths of a point to finish with silver.

This competition testifies to the immense resilience of Parrot, who fought cancer after the 2018 Olympics. He was however on a mission in Beijing and he proved it in the final.

The Quebecer was the first Canadian snowboarder to set off and despite a few small mistakes, he managed to finish with a score of 79.86 points for a provisional third place. Sébastien Toutant suffered a crash during the first run. After obtaining the second best score in qualifying, Mark McMorris is not far behind Parrot with 76.98 points.

Parrot set the benchmark on its second try with a remarkable score of 90.96 points. At that time, he moved into the provisional first place with a seven-point lead over his nearest rival, American Redmond Gerard.

It was once again a little more difficult for Toutant who missed a landing so much that he had to bet on his third and last run to register a score that would allow him to be in the running. McMorris nailed her second set of maneuvers to climb to fourth place with a score of 80.85.

Last to go in the second round, China’s Yiming Su certainly gave Parrot some heat in the lead, but the judges gave him a score of 88.70 for second place.

After missing a maneuver at the start of the course, Parrot came to the bottom of the track hoping that his score from the second run would hold up to finish at the top of the standings.

Sébastien Toutant gave it his all on his final run and seemed on the right track to get an interesting score, but he just lost his balance at the end of his last jump to close his competition with 54 points and a ninth position.

McMorris climbed onto the podium with his final run earning 88.53 points. Last threat for Parrot, Su missed his try to finish with the money and formalize the victory of Parrot. For McMorris, it is a third Olympic bronze medal in this discipline.

Men’s Slopestyle Ranking :

1. Max Parrot (CAN) 90.96 pts (79.86 + 90.96 + 36.56)

2. Su Yiming (CHN) 88.70 (78.38 + 88.70 + 66.58)

3. Mark McMorris (CAN) 88.53 (76.98+80.85+88.53)

4. Redmond Gerard (USA) 83.25 (83.25 + 71.86 + 28.65)

5. Emiliano Lauzi (ITA) 80.01 (80.01 + 27.48 + 39.48)

6. Chris Corning (USA) 65.11 (31.58+20.78+65.11)

7. Mons Roisland (NOR) 63.33 (29.01 + 63.33 + 52.53)

8. Kaito Hamada (JPN) 59.36 (25.90 + 15.91 + 59.36)

9. Sebastien Toutant (CAN) 54.00 (52.63 + 30.40 + 54.00)

10. Takeru Otsuka (JPN) 52.80 (52.75 + 50.58 + 52.80)

11. Staale Sandbech (NOR) 39.66 (29.05 + 27.43 + 39.66)

12. Sean Fitzsimons (USA) 29.61 (29.48 + 29.61 + 26.61)