X Games: Parrot defends his big air title; McMorris lands third

Max Parrot wins back-to-back big air titles and Mark McMorris clinched bronze at one of the biggest winter sport competitions, the X Games.

With one the of biggest winter sport stages set, Canadians continued to showed their dominance in big air with three riders in the final. Parrot led the charge qualifying for the event’s final in first place, foreshadowing his overall finish in the competition.

Related: Parrot, McMorris go 2-1 2016 X Games Aspen

However, no one –with the exception of Parrot – could have predicted what was to come in the final. After opening with a cab 1800 triple, Parrot followed up with the first quadruple underflip in X Games history to win with a score of 83. The Canadian’s impressive run allowed him to beat Norway’s 17-year-old ‘it kid’ Marcus Kleveland who landed the competition’s first-ever quad cork to finish one point behind Parrot.

“It’s insane, the level of riding is just crazy!” Parrot said following the competition. “This is the first time I’ve done a quad in a contest, so it’s just insane to put it down.”

Olympic bronze medallist McMorris and Sochi 2014 snowboarder Sébastien Toutant also advanced to the event’s final, after bypassing qualifiers thanks to their 1-2 finish at last year.

Related: Bowman lands X Games bronze in ski superpipe

McMorris opened with a smooth backside triple 1620 that would ultimately secure his bronze medal finish. McMorris attempted a quad on his final run, that the announcer – Mark’s brother Craig – admitted he hadn’t attempted before.

Toutant, led briefly after landing a Cab 1620 tail grab during the first set of runs. However, he was unable to secure a spot on the podium following his final ride.