Parrot tops snowboard big air qualifier as total of 5 Canadians advance to final

Canada's Max Parrot finished first in the men's snowboard big air qualifier on Monday and will move on in search of his second gold medal of Beijing 2022 after topping the men's slopestyle podium.

Joining Parrot in the men's final is Mark McMorris — who said he believed he deserved the gold medal in men's slopestyle despite his third-place finish — as well as Olympic rookie Darcy Sharpe, who finished the qualifier in 12th.

McMorris, a native of Regina, finished ninth in the event at PyeongChang 2018. However, with nine X-Games podium finishes in the event, the 28-year-old is poised to challenge for the top of the podium.

Parrot finished 10th in 2018, yet the Bromont, Que., native has a chance at a second moment of Olympic glory in Beijing after successfully laying down dominant jumps in the qualifying round.

"I'm pretty stoked on my performance so far, I landed the first two runs pretty much perfectly," Parrot said. "Tomorrow is another day, so I will mostly focus on that, but today was really good and conditions were great."

WATCH | Canada's Parrot finishes 1st in big air qualifers:

His final score of 164.75 was 4.75 points higher than Japan's Takeru Otsuka, who finished second.

Due to the fall, he did not qualify for the final. The severity of his injury has not yet been determined.

On the women's side, New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott topped the women's event, while Canada's Laurie Blouin and Jasmine Baird also booked their tickets to the final. 

Blouin finished the women's qualifier in fourth place with a score of 156.25, while Baird finished in 10th.

With their results, both booked a spot in the final. Brooke Voigt finished in 21st, missing the cut. 

Kiwi continues stellar Games

Sadowski-Synnott extended her dominant performance in Beijing by delivering the best single score of 91.00 on her third run, drawing cheers from the crowd at the Big Air Shougang that was showered with fresh snow the day before.

"Honestly it hasn't really sunk in yet," she said. "I just want to come in and try to snowboard to my best and put down my best tricks and hope to do well."

Canada's Blouin and Baird will be the first to jump for gold on Monday at 8:30 p.m. ET, while Parrot, McMorris and Sharpe take flight at the Big Air Shougang at 12 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

The events will be streamed live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports' Beijing 2022 website.