Snowboarding: Canada's Parrot soars to slopestyle gold, silver for China's Su

ZHANGJIAKOU, China: Max Parrot of Canada made a stunning comeback from cancer to win snowboarding slopestyle gold at the Beijing Olympics on Monday (Feb 7), carving out a smooth line and landing signature jumps with ease, while Chinese teen sensation Su Yiming took silver.

Parrot, who completed the last of his chemotherapy treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma in 2019, held off home favourite Su with his second run that netted 90.96 points.

"It's good to be back after three years to win the gold," Parrot, who won silver four years ago in Pyeongchang, told reporters. "It feels unreal."

Su's highest score of 88.70 also came on his second run with the 17-year-old taking silver on his Olympic debut.

After winning back-to-back bronzes at Sochi and Pyeongchang Mark McMorris had said before the final he wanted a different colour of medal this time around.

However, it was not to be for the Canadian veteran, who finished on the third step of the podium for the third Games running with his score of 88.53.

After landing his last jump Su skidded down to the finish to hug both McMorris and Parrot.

"I don't know how to express my feeling. I have never felt such feelings in my life," Su said.

The stands at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou were packed by the end of the final with local supporters eager to see Su. The crowd, with some wearing red beanies and holding a Chinese flag, erupted in a roar when Su's silver medal was announced.

The area designated for reporters at the finish line of the course was guarded by a row of volunteers and staff members to prevent excited fans from approaching the Chinese snowboarder.

Just minutes after his silver medal, Su already dominated trending topics on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo. All first five