Five Canadians have medal shots at Olympic snowboarding big air finals
Canada will have a great shot at earning its sixth snowboarding medal of the Beijing Olympics when the big air finals kick off later today.
In big air qualifying, three men and two women advanced to the twelve-person big air finals beginning Monday at 5:30 pm PT/ 8:30 pm ET. The women’s final will be first, with the men’s final beginning at 9 pm PT/ midnight ET.
Canada will be looking to add to its medal haul after picking up gold and bronze in slopestyle by way of Max Parrot and Mark McMorris, as well as a combined three snowboardcross medals from Éliot Grondin and Meryeta O’Dine.
With the top two of three runs counting in the qualifying process, Canada put on quite a show from its riders.
On the men’s side, Parrot put up a combined score of 164.75, leading the field.
"That is going to be a tough score to beat."
Max Parrot continues to stomp it at #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/l7OGS72fRj
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 14, 2022
McMorris’ score of 147.25 got the job done, as his final two runs were both clocked in at 67.25 to finish in eighth.
Mark McMorris is always having a blast 🇨🇦 🏂
The Canadian with another solid run, putting him one step closer to the final ⏩ pic.twitter.com/mPZCm1v6BT
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 14, 2022
Meanwhile, Sharpe snuck in on his third run with a score of 142.00.
"COUNT IT!"
Darcy Sharpe with a SOLID third trick 🇨🇦 🏂 pic.twitter.com/9juksUZYiP
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 14, 2022
Sharpe just edged out Finnish rider Rene Rinnekangas, who put up a score of 139.50 on the event’s penultimate run to finish 13th.
But it wasn’t a great day for everyone. Canadian Sebastien Toutant, who won the big air gold medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics, crashed on his final two attempts, the latter of which sent him to the Olympic village hospital for further evaluation.
After a scary landing in big air Sébastien Toutant is up, walking around and seems alright 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/wXsrfucvEd
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 14, 2022
On the women’s side, Blouin put up a score of 156.25 to finish fourth in qualifiers.
STOMPAGE 🚨🇨🇦
Laurie Blouin puts down a HUGE trick to make sure she's in that final 🏂 pic.twitter.com/bSiURquust
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 14, 2022
Baird finished in the 10th spot with a score of 129.50, with just 2.25 points seperating her from 13th-placed Bianca Gisler. Needless to say, it was a tight field.
Jasmine Baird 🚨
The Canadian throws down in her third and final run of the big air qualifications🏂
Laurie Blouin and Baird 🇨🇦 will both move on to the finals ⏩ pic.twitter.com/kJj1Qq97OC
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 14, 2022
While Parrot, McMorris, and Blouin have already been on the podium a combined six times, Sharpe and Baird are all searching for their first Olympic medal.
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