Mark’s medical miracle musters medal mettle
Canadian ace undeterred by brush with death as he eyes Beijing gold
Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris defied death before winning a bronze medal at this year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, so prepping for the 2022 Beijing Games is a relative walk in the park.
In March 2017, just months after shattering his right femur while attempting a frontside triple cork, the 24-year-old was boarding with some friends in the backcountry outside Vancouver when he plowed into a tree, sustaining life-threatening injuries.
Two rounds of surgeries were required to repair multiple facial fractures, a broken left arm, a ruptured spleen, rib and pelvic fractures and a collapsed left lung.
The long road of recovery would have discouraged almost anyone else from attempting another comeback — but not McMorris, who also won a bronze at the 2014 Sochi Games.
“Obviously, the Olympics carry a bit more weight than other events because the Games don’t come around every year,” McMorris told China Daily at Genting Resort Secret Garden in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, last weekend.
“People care about the Games a lot more than other competitions, and I’m very grateful for my experiences at the Olympics. But it’s a double-edge sword ... the Olympics are crazy.”
McMorris was invited by Genting and his gear sponsor Burton to participate in a season-opening celebration on Sunday. The resort will host freestyle skiing and snowboarding — except for big air — during the 2022 Olympics.
The big air discipline, which made its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang, will be staged at a newly built ramp in western Beijing’s suburbs.
McMorris said competing at his third Olympics in Beijing and being part of the sport’s growth in China is appealing.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what big air and slopestyle is going to look like in 2022. If I’m still healthy and enjoying competing, I will try to be part of it,” said McMorris, who has visited China several times since 2014 to take part in events like the Air & Style festival and Banana Open.
In 2011, McMorris made history by becoming the first boarder to land a backside triple cork (three flips while spinning four times).
At the 2014 X Games ahead of the Sochi Olympics, he broke a rib during his final slopestyle run but still managed a podium finish in Russia.
Slopestyle involves riders going down a steep course consisting of jumps, rails and other park features, while big air boarders hurl themselves off a vertical drop and perform a variety of flips, spins and other stunts.
The appearances of McMorris, China’s Olympic silver medalist Liu Jiayu and US veteran Danny Davis on the weekend kicked off a busy season for the Genting resort, which will host five legs of the International Ski Federation World Cup series from December to March.
Despite natural snowfalls as early as last month, the resort still relies on manmade snow to groom competition courses and maintain the density, humidity and consistency of the surface layer.
The resort has doubled its pump house capacity to 25,000 cubic meters of water in a 24-hour period to make enough snow during the short window, said Benno Nager, Genting resort’s chief operating officer.
“We’ve increased the capacity of the snow-making system tremendously and I am still very confident that as soon as the temperature drops, we will get the level we need.”
Genting already has the 2022 Olympics’ halfpipe ramp in operation and has finished construction of the Games’ slopestyle and parallel giant slalom courses, which will be tested with the Cup contests.
“They are on the right path here,” McMorris said. “What makes a good slopestyle course is jumps and rails and creative features. They’ve done a good job.
“China has all the resources to do the job right. I have a lot of faith after seeing how much has been improving each year.
“By the time 2022 comes around, I am sure the slopestyle course will be worldclass.”