Canadian snowboarders prepare for Beijing Olympics in different ways

Mark McMorris is coy when asked if he has any new tricks he’ll debut at the Beijing Olympics.

The usually engaging snowboarder breaks eye contact, looks around his hotel room. Takes a breath.

“Yes,” he eventually replies with a smile.

Should Canadian fans tune in to watch the big air and slopestyle competitions? A smile quickly comes to McMorris’s face this time.

“Yes. Definitely.”

Regina’s McMorris, Sebastien Toutant of L’Assomption, Que., Max Parrot of Bromont, Que., and Darcy Sharpe of Comox Valley, B.C., will represent Canada in the men’s big air and slopestyle at the Beijing Olympics. Toutant won big air gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games with Parrot and McMorris taking silver and bronze respectively in slopestyle.

Canada’s snowboarding team split into two camps literally and philosophically to prepare for Beijing.

McMorris wanted to get as much time on the mountain as possible, including competing at the Winter X-Games where he won his 10th gold medal in slopestyle last Saturday.

“I just love the feeling of pushing myself and learning new things and then bringing them to competition,” said McMorris. “Planning things when it matters and doing things with good technique and making things like smooth and easy.”

To stay sharp in the weeks leading up to Beijing, McMorris, Sharpe, Brooke Voigt of Fort McMurray, Alta., among others congregated in Whistler, B.C., where Australian snowboard course designer Charles Beckinsale attempted to build replicas of the Beijing slopestyle and big air features.

Beckinsale, who used to snowboard competitively but now travels the globe making courses for elite competitions like the World Cup circuit, said he had to piece together what the Beijing features will look like from PDF files of the Olympics’ schematics and Instagram posts by athletes who have been able to travel to China for test runs.

“We’re basically trying to get as close as we can with what we know and as close as we can with the terrain and the snow that we have to work with here,” said Beckinsale from Whistler. “They’ve got these, like, angled takeoffs that they use, we built those. But even if they’re not exactly the same it’ll be quite similar.

“It’ll get Mark in the habit of taking off on an off-camber angle like that and using his edge. So even if it’s not exactly the same, it’s still, you know, relative to what he’s going to be expecting.”

By contrast, Toutant stayed in Quebec for most of January with other members of Canada’s snowboard team, limiting his time on the slopes and focusing on fine tuning. Toutant said he would spend a couple of hours a day on the slopes at Maximise snow park in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Que., to “stay fresh” or maybe take a short drive to other resorts near Montreal to sample different snow conditions.

“Now it’s less stress, more about riding and making sure you work on the little things, that’s not working as good,” said Toutant after being named to Canada’s Olympic team for the third time. “Making sure you’re well prepared when it comes to the Games.”

Beckinsale said that all of Canada’s snowboarders — whether they’re going hard like McMorris or taking it a little more easy like Toutant — know how to tailor their preparation to their own needs.

“Everyone’s kind of been there,” said Beckinsale. “I think sometimes it’s best to approach the Games your own way. If you’re feeling like you’ve had enough snowboarding then relax the body.

“Everyone’s got their own theory on how to go into the Olympics.”

Quebec City’s Laurie Blouin struck her own balance, training at Maximise with Toutant before competing at the X-Games, where she took bronze in the women’s slopestyle. The 2018 Olympic silver medallist in slopestyle said her primary concern was avoiding close contacts with people to avoid catching COVID-19 and missing out on Beijing altogether.

“I have five days between the X-Games and leaving for Beijing so I’m going to go back to Maximise to train for a little bit and ride my rails right in my backyard,” said Blouin before she competed in the X-Games.

Blouin, Voigt, and Olympic rookie Jasmine Baird of Georgetown, Ont., will represent Canada in the women’s big air and slopestyle events. Calgary’s Liam Gill, Elizabeth Hosking of Longueuil, Que., and Calgary’s Brooke D’Hondt will represent Canada in the halfpipe.

Gill replaced Derek Livingston of Aurora, Ont., who suffered a lower-body injury in a recent training session.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2022.