Max Parrot’s comeback from cancer is complete.
The Canadian won gold in snowboard slopestyle on Monday at the Beijing Olympics, upgrading from the silver he earned at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Fellow Canadian Mark McMorris earned bronze in the event for the third consecutive time, while China’s Su Yiming took silver.
In between podiums, Parrot, of Bromont, Que., was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, forcing him to miss the entire 2018-19 season.
Just over three years later, he’s set to stand atop the Olympic podium with Canada’s first gold medal of these Beijing Games.
“It really just shows how anything is possible. Three years ago, I was laying down in a hospital bed with no energy, no muscles, no cardio. And today, I’m an Olympic gold medalist and I did the biggest run of my life, ” Parrot told CBC Sports after the event.
At a news conference ahead of the Olympics, Parrot stated his outlook on sports, and on life, changed post-cancer.
“Every time I step on my snowboard, I smile twice as much as before and it just transplanted into my training,” he said.
It’s all smiles now after the 29-year-old collected his first career Olympic title, adding to an illustrious career that also includes eight X Games gold medals.
Parrot won on the strength of his second run, on which he scored 90.96 points. The Canadian stomped a frontside 1620 on the final jump, and immediately started clapping on his way down, knowing his run should be good enough to land on the podium.
It vaulted him to the top. But as the fourth rider, Parrot had to wait for eight more athletes to come with their second runs, and all 12 in the final had one last shot to post a medal-worthy score in their third run.
McMorris, of Regina, used that opportunity to score 88.53 points and move to third, just .17 points back of China’s Su.
“That was a nerve-wracking moment right there,” McMorris said. “I went backside 1620 on the last one and the landing was quite shaded so I was just like, ‘Oh, I hope I am where I think I am’ and landed quite clean and was just thrilled. I felt so relieved to land that run.
“I thought I would’ve landed second or first, but hey, I’m on the podium and I wasn’t after my first two runs, so it feels amazing.”
And so Parrot’s gold medal was confirmed some 30 minutes after he landed that final 1620.
“It’s the biggest run I’ve done in my entire whole career,” Parrot said. “I’ve never done three triples in a row in a run… everything was so clean so I’m just extremely proud of myself with that.”
Sébastien Toutant, the third Canadian to qualify for the final, placed ninth with a top score of 54 points.
After Parrot learned of his blood cancer, he underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy over six months during which he said he shaved his head, developed an aversion to lattes and was generally taken out of training.
However, he showed his resolve when two months after being declared cancer-free in mid-2019, he returned to the X Games and immediately secured big air gold.
A few weeks ago, Parrot said his journey led to a more laidback approach ahead of his third Olympics.
“My goal is to go for the gold, that’s for sure,” he said at the time. “But I’m really happy as well that if I don’t get the gold, I won’t have any regrets because I did everything in my power over the past couple months, and that was something important for me as well.”
The newly minted Olympic champion will surely have no regrets now. And he’ll get the opportunity to double when, along with McMorris, Toutant and Darcy Sharpe — the fourth Canadian in the event, who failed to reach the final — he returns to the slopes in China for the big air competition on Feb. 14.
