Regina's 19-year-old Mark McMorris will take home the gold after getting the highest score in Men's Snowboard Slopestyle History.
The boarder from the flatlands won the Slopestyle event for the second year at the X-Games in Aspen, Colorado on Saturday.
McMorris head into Friday night's Big Air final as the defending gold medalist but only walked away with silver after a slow start let Torstein Horgmo edge to the lead.
McMorris showed that he was determined not to get another silver. He was the top scoring snowboarder to enter into the Slopestyle final. He proved that he was supposed to be there by scoring a 94.66 on his very first run in the final. Then he sealed the deal for his gold by scoring an amazing 98.00 on his final run breaking all Men's Slopestyle records.
Heading into the Slopestyle event McMorris was up against olympic medalist and X-Games winner Shaun White but after failing to land a solid run White only finished fifth.
McMorris frequented Mission Ridge Winter Park in Fort Qu'Appelle during his early snowboarding years.
“Mark's been coming out here pretty much as long as me and my partner have owned this place,” said Mission Ridge co-owner Don Williams.
“That's about 11 years.”
Williams said that his potential was not immediately evident.
“When he was a kid, he was just another park rat,” Williams said.
“He was a very quiet, unassuming boy. He was just a kid who quietly went about his business.”
Now that he has made a name for himself, Williams could not be happier.
“We are pretty proud of that alright. It sort of dispels the notion that winter sports don't take place in Saskatchewan,” he said.
Owner of OffAxis Boardshop Doug Elder has seen McMorris compete since he was around 9-years-old. He said that McMorris' success is inspiring to young snowboarders all around the province.
“You can be born and raised on the prairies but if you push hard enough you can go ride a hill like Mission Ridge and still achieve success on an international level,” he said.
“He was always trying to take it to the next level.”
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