Canada's Mark McMorris reacts to his score at the finish line during the men's slopestyle snowboarding qualifying session at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games in Rosa Khutor February 6, 2014. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
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KRASNAYA, PLYANA, RUSSIA -
The Sochi Winter Games have yet to be officially declared open and there's already a judging controversy.
Unfortunately for a Canadian team looking to get off to a rousing start in one of the first medal events when competition opens on Saturday, one of their own is in the middle of it - and snowboarding superstar Mark McMorris is none too happy about it.
The Regina native lashed out at the "ridiculous" judging after placing seventh in Thursday's qualifying session at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, the first official action for these Olympics.
"It's hurting mentally right now more than anything," a clearly dejected McMorris, one of Canada's top medal hopes, said afterwards. "I didn't get the score I wanted. I didn't think my run was much different than anybody else. It sure as heck wasn't sketchy. It felt really solid and clean.
"It's pretty ridiculous, but it's a judged sport, what can you do?"
What McMorris will have to do now is compete in the semifinal round on Saturday morning to claim one of the remaining four spots for the medal round later that day. The top four from each of two qualifying groups on Thursday advanced directly to the final.
More importantly, McMorris will add another mental burden onto what is already becoming a trying Olympics, the first for him and his sport. Less than two weeks ago, the 20-year-old broke a rib in a competition and he's been battling through the pain to get ready for the most important day in the young history of his sport.
"He's focused and he knows what he has to do," Canadian snowboarding coach Leo Addington said. "I think he'll be ready. He's a super positive guy and these guys turn a setback into more motivation."
If his rise to legend status in the extreme sport is any indication, little seems to faze McMorris, who arrived in Russia as the favourite for his competition and the best bet of many to provide Canada's first visit to the top of the podium.
Despite growing up in the flat lands of Saskatchewan, McMorris was a prodigy almost from the first time he strapped on a board. At age 16, he won in the first World Cup competition he entered and the following year was second in the Winter X Games, an event he would go on to win twice.
McMorris has rapidly become a cult figure on the snowboard slopes, drawing comparisons to American mega-star Shaun White and this year was the top-ranked slopestyler on the World Snowboard Tour, all before he exited his teens this past December.
"He's had tons of great success and he's been a great role model, it's why he's become so popular," Addington said. "He's a big inspiration for a lot of people. To (the kids who follow the sport), he's a superstar and a role model."
That popularity will soar back home should Canadians wake up Saturday to news that McMorris has won gold here, a significant opportunity not lost on the team. If there was a consolation to Thursday's disappointment, it is that McMorris didn't experience too much pain in his rib during his two preliminary runs.
"It's still broken so there's pain, but nothing you can't manage," McMorris said. "Right now, that's the least of my worries."
Still, he'll have to find a way to shake Thursday's disappointment while pondering some alterations to his routine in order to impress when medals are on the line. The good news is that his marks Thursday won't count against him on Saturday.
"The positive fact is that I have another shot on Saturday," McMorris said. "I'm gonna have to go back to the drawing board because apparently (what he did Thursday) is not enough. We'll figure it out.
"It sucks. To land a really good run that you're really proud of with one of the only legitimate triple corks of the day and not even come close, I was bummed. It was kind of like a shock to the heart." Click to enlarge and open in new windowWHAT IS SLOPESTYLE?
It wouldn't be an Olympics without a funky new sport to appeal to a younger audience.
This year's made-for-the-kids competition is called slopestyle, a discipline under the snowboard umbrella. 1. The Basics
And as is so often the case, with new events, Canada is loaded with medal contenders.
Here's a quick hit primer at what to expect from the competition, which has a good shot of providing Canada with its first medal of Sochi 2014 when the men's event is settled on Saturday morning.
In slopestyle, riders cruise down a course with a variety of obstacles such as rails, terrain features and jumps. A judged sport, the athletes are awarded points based on the execution and degree of difficulty of their tricks. 2. The Stars
So far, eight boarders have qualified for Saturday's men's final with four more to make it in via a semifinal round earlier in the day. In the medal round, the competitors will have two runs with the best score winning.
Riding those rails (six inches in width and 15 feet off of the ground) has been described as trying to negotiate a gymnastics balance beam with snow mixed into the equation and travelling some 40 kilometres per hour.
Canadian Mark McMorris has garnered much of the hype heading into the Olympic debut of slopeboarding, largely because of the reputation he forged during the past three years within the extreme sports community. McMorris, who is battling a broken rib here, is widely acknowledged for improving the overall quality of competition thanks to his innovative and aggressive style. 3. The Reputation
American Shaun White, the original snowboard hero, was supposed to compete in the slopestyle event but opted to withdraw earlier this week, causing several competitors to lash out at him.
It could be a big day for Canada beyond McMorris as Quebec's Max Parrot, who qualified first on Thursday, is red-hot going into the Games.
As often can be the case when a new sport gets introduced into the Games, slopestyle has had its critics, most notably NBC broadcaster Bob Costas who ripped the competition on the Today show.
"I think the president of the IOC should be Johnny Knoxville," Costas said of the actor. "Because basically this stuff is just 'Jackass'' stuff they invented and called an Olympic sport." 4. The Back Story
Predictably, there was outrage in the slopestyle community, especially given NBC's role in broadcasting the Games to the U.S.
"I'm glad Bob Costas said that," American boarder Nick Goepper told ESPN.com. "Now it should draw interest and make slopestyle one of the most entertaining sports in the Olympics."
Snowboarders have been lobbying for years to be included given the sport's popularity at the X Games. An obvious hit with the younger generation, it is spectacular television with the snowboarders sliding on rails and boxes with the added thrills and spills of the flips and jumps. 5. The Judging
Canadian athletes have long had success in snowboarding. In fact, in 1998 at Nagano, Ross Rebagliati won the first snowboard medal in Olympic history.
"It's a great platform for our athletes, it's a great platform for our sport," Canadian Seb Toutant said of his sport's inclusion in the Olympics. "
A panel of five judges score the athletes in the following four areas with descriptions from Canada's Freestyle ski association:
Amplitude: How much air the boarders get off of their jumps.
DD: The degree of difficulty of the tricks they perform, an area in which McMorris has pushed the envelope.
Execution: Quite simply, how well they perform their tricks.
Overall: The complete package, including the personal style the athlete brings to his run. This includes the grabs and positions the competitors add to the tricks to make them their own. Poll
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