{"id":803465,"date":"2020-01-25T22:14:57","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T05:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=378027"},"modified":"2020-01-25T22:14:57","modified_gmt":"2020-01-26T05:14:57","slug":"parrots-1800-powers-him-to-x-games-snowboard-big-air-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/parrots-1800-powers-him-to-x-games-snowboard-big-air-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Parrot\u2019s 1800 powers him to X Games snowboard big air gold"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Max Parrot wins gold in X Games Aspen\u2019s men\u2019s snowboard big air final on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020, at Buttermilk Ski Area in Aspen.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

ASPEN \u2013 For Canadian star Max Parrot, his big air win in November at X Games Norway was special \u2014 it was an X Games gold medal in his first competition back mere months after recovering from a Hodkins Lymphoma diagnosis. But Saturday night\u2019s win at X Games Aspen\u2019s snowboard big air competition may have been more special.<\/p>\n

\u201cAspen is the biggest one,\u201d Parrot said moments after winning against a loaded field of competitors on the 300-foot in-run, 80-foot jump course. \u201cIt\u2019s here I got my first invite when I was a kid. It\u2019s the one everyone looks for, the one we see the most progression every year. So it\u2019s the most important.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year after doctors forced him out of last winter\u2019s X Games Aspen to begin chemotherapy treatment, Parrot won Saturday on the strength of a soaring switch frontside triple cork 1800. Parrot is the only athlete in the world who can land the trick, which requires him to ride backward into the launch before rotating his body to his board\u2019s front side to invert on his vertical axis three times while completing five rotations.<\/p>\n

Parrot said it took six-day a week training sessions in the gym, on the trampoline and on the airbag, to build his strength and skill enough to land the move, which kept him ahead of a versatile, five-for-five performance from fellow Canadian and silver medalist Mark McMorris.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery jump we do is hard,\u201d Parrot said, \u201cbut that one is a little harder because there is more spin, you have to huck more on the takeoff, so you have to be a little bit stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parrot also landed a backside triple cork 1620, a frontside triple cork 1620 he landed switch with an inventive melon grab, a cab triple cork 1620 and a triple cork 1440.<\/p>\n

McMorris rode to silver in the new X Games 25-minute jam format where riders aren\u2019t awarded exact scores. Rather, they are re-ranked on a leaderboard after each and every jump. The top of the leaderboard went back and forth between McMorris and Parrot before Parrot\u2019s 1800 kept him on top near the end.<\/p>\n

McMorris\u2019s silver was good enough for him to tie Shaun White\u2019s 18 X Games medals for the most total X Games medals by a skier or snowboarder.<\/p>\n

McMorris rode to second with a pair of 1620s and three different types of 1440s, including his last one, the final jump of the night, that featured two grabs: mute and tail.<\/p>\n

In the end, McMorris felt he had done enough to win, but he was happy with the result anyway. As for when he\u2019ll go for medal No. 19, he said he may compete in Sunday\u2019s rail jam, though he may leave the stage for his older brother Craig. If not Sunday, he said he plans to compete at X Games China in Chongli later this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy strategy was trying to play what they told us to do,\u201d McMorris said, \u201call different directions and land consistently. So I did five for five and I am so thankful. That\u2019s a performance I was really proud of. I think it definitely could have went my way getting gold. But I don\u2019t really care, that\u2019s out of my hands. I rode to the best of my ability and it could have been either way, but I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other shocking development of the night was Japanese 20-year-old Ryo Aizawa\u2019s landing of an 1800 followed by a failed attempt at an unprecedented 1980. Afterward, Aizawa said he felt like he almost had the trick. When is he confident he can land it?<\/p>\n

\u201cNext time,\u201d he said with a wide smile.<\/p>\n

Aizawa finished in seventh. Sven Thorgren of Sweden took the bronze medal.<\/p>\n

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