Regina Snowboarder Wins Gold in Beijing

Regina is a small city, so when both Regina and Beijing are mentioned in the same news story, we should celebrate it, right?

Mark McMorris is a Canadian snowboarding hero and a local Regina sports darling. McMorris won a Gold medal in the Beijing World Cup competitions this weekend. Normally, we expect him to win big in International competitions. He was a medalist in the Sochi Olympics (2014) and has won many other medals in recent years (see list below).

What is so interesting to us this time is the fact that he “crashed” in training just six months ago, and broke bones and injured other internal organs. To be recovered so well now for more competitions is amazing.

I’m providing here some historic photos of our Regina Boy, followed by the news story that is circulating around Canada (and the World) this morning.

Regina’s Mark McMorris made a triumphant return to the slopes on Saturday, winning gold in the men’s big air competition at the Beijing World Cup.

It was McMorris’s first competition since a harrowing accident in the backcountry near Whistler, B.C., eight months ago.

The 22-year-old McMorris broke his jaw and left arm, ruptured his spleen, fractured his pelvis and ribs and suffered a collapsed left lung in March when he crashed into a tree.

But he showed no ill effects on Saturday, taking the top spot in his qualification heat with a score of 83.00. In the final, McMorris impressed the judges, performing a frontside triple cork 1440 mute and a backside triple cork 1440 indy to grab a combined score of 187.00.

“I’m doing very good — very happy to get a win under my belt back after that injury,” McMorris told CBC. “I’m feeling on top of the world.”
McMorris’s victory shows that his preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, is on track after the accident in March. He won slopestyle bronze at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

“Some days it felt like I would return to snowboarding and other days it wouldn’t,” McMorris told CBC. “I just feel really, really blessed to even have a chance to snowboard at this level again … The fact that I was given a second chance is definitely the icing on the cake.”

McMorris is a seven-time gold medallist at the Winter X Games, having won big air three times and slopestyle on four occasions.

Austria’s Anna Gasser won the women’s big air title. Eighth-place Brooke Voigt of Fort McMurray, Alta., was the top Canadian female finisher. Winnipeg’s Gillian Andrewshenko was 11th.

New Zealand’s Tiarn Collins won silver and Norway’s Torgeir Bergrem placed third.

McMorris’s victory shows that his preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, is on track after the accident in March. He won slopestyle bronze at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

“Some days it felt like I would return to snowboarding and other days it wouldn’t,” McMorris told CBC. “I just feel really, really blessed to even have a chance to snowboard at this level again … The fact that I was given a second chance is definitely the icing on the cake.”

McMorris is a seven-time gold medallist at the Winter X Games, having won big air three times and slopestyle on four occasions.

Austria’s Anna Gasser won the women’s big air title. Eighth-place Brooke Voigt of Fort McMurray, Alta., was the top Canadian female finisher. Winnipeg’s Gillian Andrewshenko was 11th.

Publsihed: 2017/11/27