Canada’s Max Parrot Tops Men’s Snowboarding Big Air Qualifying at Olympics 2022

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Canada’s Max Parrot put himself in position for his second gold medal of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, leading the standings after the snowboarding big air round of qualifying. 

Parrot’s total score of 164.75 had him well clear of Japan’s Takeru Otsuka (160.00) and the United States’ Redmond Gerard (158.75), who finished in second and third place, respectively.

2022 Winter Olympics Big Air Qualifying Results

1. Max Parrot (Canada): 164.75
2. Takeru Otsuka (Japan): 160.00
3. Redmond Gerard (United States): 158.75
4. Hiroaki Kunitake (Japan): 158.25
5. Su Yiming (China): 155.25
6. Marcus Kleveland (Norway): 151.50
7. Sven Thorgren (Sweden): 151.00
8. Mark McMorris (Canada): 147.25
9. Mons Roisland (Norway): 146.50
10. Chris Corning (United States): 146.00
11. Niek Van Der Velden (Netherlands): 142.75
12. Darcy Sharpe (Canada): 142.00

Parrot won his first Olympic gold in the slopestyle event, completing a storybook recovery from a 2018 cancer diagnosis.

“You have no cardio, you have no energy, you have no muscles. To be back out here, at the Olympics, on a podium again but with a gold medal, it feels amazing,” Parrot told reporters after winning the slopestyle gold.

While there was a level of controversy to his slopestyle win—judges missed a mistake in Parrot’s run that would have cost him the medal—there were no concerns about who put together the most consistent runs Monday. Parrot opened with a solid 78.25 on his first run and then added a brilliant 86.50 on his second before a low third run that ultimately didn’t matter for his final score.

China’s Su Yiming had the day’s best individual run at 92.50 but couldn’t match that level over his final two chances. Otsuka (91.50) had the day’s only other run that finished with a score in the 90s. 

Parrot will be joined by two countrymen, Mark McMorris and Darcy Sharpe, in the finals. The United States will have two shots at a medal in Gerard and Chris Corning.