Mark McMorris was unable to fulfill his dream. © APA / EXPA/ JOHANN GRODER

The McMorris fairytale never came to pass.

In the snowboard slopestyle final at the Olympic Games, all eyes were on Mark McMorris. But the Canadian fairytale didn't materialize.

February 18, 2026

From: never

Mark McMorris's participation in this final was almost a miracle. Shortly before the Olympics began, the Canadian had suffered a severe fall, at one point even losing consciousness. He skipped the Big Air competition, but in the Slopestyle, despite his injuries, he wanted to make one last attempt. It was an attempt to crown an already extraordinary career with the one title that still eluded him: Olympic gold.

In the end, his dream remained unfulfilled. The 32-year-old, who had amassed a string of X Games titles and won three Olympic bronze medals in slopestyle, played no major role in the final. In a competition that was relatively uneventful, he only managed eighth place. The gap to the medals was clearly noticeable – he was almost four points short of bronze and nearly seven points away from gold. McMorris took it in stride: "I tried everything," he said afterward. "So many things have worked out in my career. This time just didn't."

Chinese win gold medal

Su Yiming, however, stood at the top. The 21-year-old Chinese athlete prevailed in a close three-way battle with 82,41 points. Taiga Hasegawa from Japan was just a hair's breadth behind, while Jake Canter from the USA completed the podium. Su, who once rose to fame as a child actor, had already won a medal in Big Air – and now delivered a performance in Slopestyle that secured China its historic first victory in this discipline at the Milan and Cortina Winter Games.