Canada’s Parrot wins gold in first competition since beating cancer

Aug 31, 2019 | 11:21 AM

OSLO — Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot won the big air gold medal at X Games Oslo on Saturday in his first competition since being declared cancer-free two months ago.

The Olympic silver medallist in slopestyle in 2018 and now six-time X Games champion was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma on Dec. 21, 2018. The cancer affects white blood cells in the lymphatic system.

The 25-year-old from Bromont, Que., threw down three big jumps in each of his runs in Saturday’s final, scoring a combined 91 points on his two best runs.

Parrot scored a 47 on his first jump, a cab triple cork 1620, and 44 on the frontside triple cork he landed on his second run.

Sven Thorgren of Sweden was second with 88.33 points and Japan’s Yuki Kadono took bronze with a score of 84.66.

Regina’s Mark McMorris, who has 17 X Games medals, placed fifth in the six-man final. A podium finish would have tied McMorris with American Shaun White’s X Games medal record of 18.

Parrot last competed Nov. 24, 2018, when he placed eighth at a big air World Cup in Beijing.

He’d noticed a bump on his neck and consulted a doctor upon his return to Canada. Parrot underwent his 12th and final round of chemotherapy in mid-June.

Parrot won big air gold at X Games Aspen three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, but wasn’t able to compete there this year.

The Canadian Press