Regina’s McMorris wins in Colorado

The highly anticipated showdown in Colorado never materialized Sunday as injured American snowboarding legend Shaun White found himself tweeting a photo of himself on a couch with his ankle in a bucket of ice.

But humble Canadian star Mark McMorris left little doubt with two fabulous slopestyle runs in Breckenridge, Colo., that he’ll be the gold medal favourite when the spectacular, high-flying discipline makes its Olympic debut in Sochi.

The soft-spoken, 20-yearold from Regina, a two-time X Games gold medallist, posted the two best scores of the 16 riders in the Dew Tour final to easily top the podium.

After scoring a phenomenal 95.00 (out of 100) on his first run, McMorris threw in a backside triple cork 1440 off the final jump on his second run to score a staggering 97.80.

“If everything was going good as (the first run), I was going to do it,” McMorris said after winning the first competitive event of the season and one that served as a key qualifier for Canadians and the very deep, but ultimately outclassed, American squad. “Sure enough, I was headed into the last jump and I did it. And it felt really good.”

Sweden’s Sven Thorgren was second with a best run score of 91.00, while Quebecers Maxence Parrot (89.00) and Sébastian Toutant (87.60) were third and fourth, respectively.