Mark McMorris leads Canadian trio into Olympic slopestyle final
28-year-old is joined by Parrot, Toutant in medal event at 11 p.m. ET Sunday
Three Canadians will ride for gold in the men's snowboard slopestyle Olympic final at Beijing 2022, with Mark McMorris, Max Parrot and Sébastien Toutant finishing in the top 12 of Sunday's qualifying event.
McMorris topped the Canadian contingent. After struggling on his first run, he nailed his second with a backside triple 1440, posting the second highest score of the day at 83.30. Coming off a gold medal in slopestyle at January's X-Games in Aspen, Colo., the 28-year-old is looking to improve on the bronze medal he won at PyeongChang 2018.
"If you land the first run and you're surely in there then it's one of those things where you go kind of harder and try and get that final drop for finals day," McMorris said. "But I was kinda in the position where I needed to land a run on my second run.
"I was able to do that and they definitely hooked me up with a really good score."
The second best Canadian, Toutant, sealed his spot in the final with a score of 71.06, good for seventh place in the qualifier. After nailing the course's top half in his first run, the Repentigny, Que., native struggled on the final stretch, relying on a strong second round to secure his chance at a medal.
Whistler, B.C., native Darcy Sharpe, 25, finished 23rd, missing the final in his Olympic debut.
WATCH | Mark McMorris aces his second run of qualifying:
With a trio in the final, Team Canada matches its Sochi 2014 mark, when three Canadians competed in the Olympic final. Four Canadians competed in the PyeongChang 2018 final.
China's Su Yiming took the top spot overall in qualifying, posting a 86.80 in his opening run. The 17-year-old has a single World Cup win to his name but put himself in prime position to capture an Olympic gold medal on home snow.
The Canadian trio, who have a combined one World Cup win this season, will compete in the Olympic slopestyle final at 11:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, streaming live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports' Beijing 2022 website.
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With files from The Canadian Press
