Mark McMorris successfully defends Snowboard Slopestyle throne at X Games Aspen 2013
Canada’s Mark McMorris successfully defended his Snowboard Slopestyle gold medal at X Games Aspen 2013, which continued at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, on Saturday, January 26.
Canada’s Maxence Parrot walked away with the silver medal, while Belgium’s Seppe Smits completed the podium to take home the bronze medal.
It turned out to be yet exciting Slopestyle content at what is easily the biggest winter action sports event of the year.
With the best riders from around the world in contention for a place on the podium, the crowd knew really well that they were in for a treat.
The 19-year-old McMorris had spent months preparing to defend his throne against the likes of Shaun White, Smits, and a handful of other heavy-weights.
The Canadian rider wasted absolutely no time in stamping in authority in the battle for the highest spot the podium. In his very first run, he unleashed a back-side triple cork 1440 and landed it cleanly. Backing it up with a couple of more gravity-defying
tricks, he ended up with a score of 94.66.
Even though his first-run score remain unchallenged and he had an option to make his third run a victory lap, McMorris opted to raise the bar by earning the highest Snowboard Slopestyle score of 98.00, thanks a run that featured a cab 270 to fakie on the
down rail, switch lip-slide on the up rail, front blunt same-way 270, board-slide gap board-slide to fakie, cab 1260 double cork, front-side 1080 double cork, double wildcat and finally a backside triple cork 1440.
"I'm so glad it's over," said McMorris, who showed no fatigue from his silver-medal performance in Navy Snowboard Big Air the night before. "I proved myself the way I wanted to and I'm just a happy camper. I landed a run I don't think I've ever done, really."
The 18-year-old Parrot, an X Games rookie, joined his compatriot on the podium after earning a 90.00 off his first run, in which he pulled off his own version of the triple cork that he had learned just a couple of weeks ago in Switzerland.
Smits also walked away with a medal after earning an 85.00 off his first run.
White landed the first Triple Cork of the competition in his first run, which scored a 71.00, but ended up falling in both his subsequent runs.
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