Canadian competitors collect 10 medals at winter X Games

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In what will be the newest spectacle at the Winter Olympics – snowboard big air – Canada is already a world leader.

At the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., on the weekend, the biggest show on the season's action-sports calendar, Canadians Max Parrot of Bromont, Que., and Mark McMorris of Regina were first and second, respectively, in snowboard big air, a reverse of their finish a year ago.

Big air – which makes its Olympic debut in 2018 at Pyeongchang, South Korea – sees snowboarders shoot down a steep ramp of snow, fly off the lip of the large jump at 60 kilometres an hour and complete a dizzying array of tricks before they land. Parrot and McMorris both did tricks with three off-axis flips and spun 1620 degrees – four and a half full rotations.

Snowboard big air was one of four X Games competitions in which Canada landed two people on the podium. Canadians collected a total of 10 medals – five of them gold – in events that will be featured at the Olympics.

In ski-cross, Kelowna, B.C.'s Kelsey Serwa and North Vancouver's Marielle Thompson were first and second in Aspen; in the men's event, Brady Leman of Calgary won and Chris Del Bosco of Montreal was third.

"Canada continues to be the country to beat in ski-cross," said Mark Rubinstein, chief executive of Alpine Canada.

In women's snowboard slopestyle, Spencer O'Brien of Courtenay, B.C., finally snatched an X Games gold medal; she previously had won a silver and three bronzes, the last of which came in 2014. On Friday in Aspen, after she topped American star Jamie Anderson, O'Brien said: "Ever since I was a little girl, X Games gold was all I wanted."

Barrie, Ont.'s Alex Massie, in adaptive snowboard, won silver, one better than the bronze he won last year in his X Games debut.

It was in men's snowboarding where the most Canadians crowded for podium positions. Parrot and McMorris landed medals in big air, but Montreal's Sébastien Toutant was close behind in fourth and Darcy Sharpe of Comox, B.C., was sixth. In slopestyle, McMorris defended his gold medal of last year, just ahead of Toutant.

McMorris, now established as one of the great all-time performers at X Games, is inching closer to American legend Shaun White, in slopestyle at least. McMorris has won medals (a total of four golds and two silvers) in six straight Winter X Games. White won slopestyle medals eight years in a row (five golds, one silver, and two bronzes).

The depth of the field in Canadian's men's snowboarding is impressive. While McMorris, Toutant and Parrot still lead, Ontario riders Mikey Ciccarelli of Ancaster and Tyler Nicholson of North Bay are quickly coming up.

So, making the Canadian men's Olympic snowboard team for 2018 could be almost as difficult as vying for a medal in South Korea.

"Thrilled," said Patrick Jarvis, executive director of Canada Snowboard, about his team's success. "It bodes well. It's a manifestation of the depth of the program, that on any given day you could see one, two, three different Canadians on the podium."

Other Canadians came close at X Games. Comox's Cassie Sharpe was fourth in the ski superpipe and Calgary's Roz Groenewoud was sixth. In ski slopestyle, Huntsville, Ont.'s Dara Howell – who won Olympic gold in 2014 – was fifth.

Sport executives are looking to Ottawa for more funding, especially for younger athletes who might be years away from competition with the world's best. Own The Podium has mostly focused on athletes with near-term medal potential. The previous federal Conservative government had promised some new development money, a promise that sport federations expect will be kept up by Liberals.

"My hope," Rubinstein said, "is there will be more money in the system."