Canadian Mark McMorris for taking the Gold Medal home at the X Games in the slopestyle and that too in a dramatic manner. This was the 17th medal for the Regina native which brings him one step closer to Shaun White’s record of 18 medals. McMorris scored a whopping 96 points on his dramatic and monster third run which bought him the gold.
The Dramatic Third and Final Run!
The 25-year-old struggled in his first two runs scoring 89.66 and 21.33 respectively. Till then, Rene Rinnekangas of Finland was leading with 94 points, followed by Mons Roisland of Norway by 91.33 points.
However, the final run was the game changer. Mark’s final run brought in a major disappointment for Sebastien Toutant who was happily on the third spot with 90.66 points.
Toutant has an excellent record in both big air competitions and slopestyle events. He won the gold medal in the big air tournament at the Pyeongchang Olympics, 2018. However, he could only manage the fourth spot in both Friday’s big air competition and Saturday’s Slopestyle event.
With this gold medal, McMorris has now a total of eight gold, six silver and three bronze at the X Games. Two more and the 25-year-old will be all-time highest medal awardee of the X Games.
X Games : Men’s Big Air Event and Women’s Slopestyle Results
In an earlier event of Men’s ski big air, Birk Ruud of Norway clinched the gold medal with 89 points. He was followed by Alex Beaulieu-Marchand of Quebec City who had a combined score of 87. followed by James Woods of Great Britain scoring 82 points. Beaulieu-Marchand has got an Olympic bronze in his name at the 2018 Pyeongchang’s slopestyle competition.
In the women’s snowboard slopestyle, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott from New Zealand secured the gold medal with 91 points, followed by American Hailey Langland (90.66) and Finnish Enni Rukajarvi.
These all are a part of the annual Winter X Games 2019. The Winter X Games include other competitions which include skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling.
The Winter X Games began in 1997 and marked the beginning to the X Games. From 2002, the Winter X Games are being held at Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain and it will continue till 2024.
Source- Global News, CBC