Mark McMorris of Canada makes his jump in The Style Experience FIS Snowboard Big Air World Cup finals in Edmonton on Saturday, December 10, 2022.McMorris defended his Winter X Games gold medal in slopestyle Sunday with a walk-off final run. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
ASPEN, Colo. – Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris defended his gold medal in slopestyle and freestyle skier Megan Oldham collected her second gold of the Winter X Games with a slopestyle victory Sunday.
At 29, McMorris was the oldest competitor in the 10-man final. The Regina snowboarder became the most decorated athlete in Winter X Games history with 22 medals, including 11 gold.
Norway’s Marcus Kleveland briefly supplanted McMorris in the fourth and final round on Buttermilk Mountain, but the Canadian laid down a stellar run on his final pass.
No scores were posted because in a format introduced three years ago in Aspen, athletes were ranked for “overall impression” in a jam session, in which athletes compete over a set time as opposed to a number of rounds.
Kleveland took silver and Norway’s Mons Roisland earned bronze.
McMorris won bronze at last year’s Beijing Olympics behind teammate and gold medallist Max Parrot of Bromont, Que.
Parrot is taking a year off from competition.
Oldham of Parry Sound, Ont., became the first woman to land a triple cork en route to winning Friday’s big air event.
She collected another gold medal in Sunday’s slopestyle.
Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud took silver and Scotland’s Kirsty Muir was third.
Also Sunday, freestyle skier Teal Harle of Campbell River, B.C., earned a silver medal in men’s big air.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2023.
