Canadian Olympic snowboarder stretchered off mountain after 'heavy crash'
One of Canada’s biggest medal threats might be at risk of missing out on the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics after a crash in training.
Mark McMorris, 32, was stretchered off the mountain on Wednesday after being involved in a crash during a big air Olympic training session. No update has been made on his condition, and whether or not he’ll be ready to compete for the event’s qualifying on Thursday.
McMorris is a three-time Olympic bronze medalist for Canada and was hoping to add to that total in the coming weeks.
Team Canada released a statement shortly after the crash.
“Snowboarder Mark McMorris had a heavy crash this evening during big air training,” the statement read. “Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Snowboard staff are attending to him.
“We will provide more information as it becomes available.”
Team Canada
This wouldn’t be the first time that McMorris has been injured while snowboarding. Back in 2016, the Canadian broke his right femur while competing at Shaun White’s Air + Style Big Air event.
He also suffered a near-fatal injury in 2017 after hitting a tree while backcountry snowboarding in Whistler, BC. This resulted in a collapsed left lung, pelvic fracture, a fractured jaw, fractured left arm, a ruptured spleen, and rib fractures. McMorris underwent two surgeries and miraculously returned to compete in time for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics.
McMorris was set to compete in his fourth consecutive Olympic Games, having won bronze medals in Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, and Beijing 2022. All three of his medals have been in slopestyle.
On top of his Olympic accomplishments, the Saskatchewan native also has a 2021 World Championship big air gold medal and 12 Winter X Games gold medals to his name.