The Winter Games’ first three medals have been given out – one to a Canadian.
Competing with an injured rib, 20-year-old Regina native Mark McMorris won bronze at the Sochi Olympics in men’s slopestyle with an 88.75 final score. American Sage Kostenburg won gold with 93.5 and Norway’s Staale Sandbech’s 91.75 earned him silver.
Two weeks ago, McMorris broke a rib, but was medically cleared to compete in Saturday’s event.
"To get on the podium is just a dream come true. I can't explain this. I've just been through a roller coaster over these last few weeks," McMorris told the CBC.
"I would have loved to be in the gold medal position but with what I've been through in the last two weeks, just standing on the podium in general feels like a gold medal to me," said McMorris.
Canadians Maxence Parrot placed fifth while Sebastien Toutant finished ninth overall. Both are from Quebec.
After years of being a headlining event at the Winter X Games, snowboard slopestyle is making its Olympic debut in Sochi along with 11 other new sports.
Slopestyle snowboarders are sent down a run with rails and progressively bigger jumps to perform complex aerial tricks to accumulate technical points.
In 2012, McMorris was the first ever to land a backside triple cork 1440, a trademark trick that has impressed crowds at the X Games and now the Olympics.
With files from the Canadian Press
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