Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle winner Max Parrot battled cancer three years ago
A true champion both on and off the snow, Max Parrot battled cancer with Hodgkin lymphoma following the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and came out victorious this year as the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle winner at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Parrot scored a 90.96 on his flawless second run of the day.
Undergoing twelve treatments of chemotherapy over a span of six months after winning silver in 2018, Max Parrot battled cancer and described his experience as the roughest time of his life. Not allowing cancer to halt his journey, Parrot was able to get back into his groove and came out on top winning the Winter X Games in both 2019 and 2020 in the Men’s Big Air and Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle events.
Riding down the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, Parrot set up 1620, 1440, and 1620 triple corks during his second run jumps and stuck them all clean. With fellow Canadian Mark McMorris in bronze and China’s Su Yiming in silver, Parrot stood strong with his gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics podium on Monday as he was crowned the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle winner.
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“Three years ago exactly, at this particular date, I was laying down in the hospital bed, going through 12 treatments of chemotherapy,” said Parrot after his victory. “I had no more muscles, no more energy, no more cardio. I wanted to quit sometimes, because it was so hard just to get to the next morning. To be standing here three years later, and winning gold, that is completely crazy.”
Parrot’s teammate McMorris added, “Max beat cancer, and it’s pretty sick to see him do well.” As one of Canada’s top snowboarders in the past decade, McMorris has yet to win gold at the Winter Games but was the bronze Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle winner at Sochi in 2014, Pyeongchang in 2018, and now at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.