Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris breaks record for most Winter X Games medals

Canadian snowboard star Mark McMorris made history on Sunday at the 2023 Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo.

The 29-year-old from Regina successfully defended his slopestyle gold, breaking a tie with American Jamie Anderson for the most Winter X Games medals with 22.

McMorris, who was the oldest competitor in the 10-man final, overtook reigning world champion Marcus Kleveland of Norway on the final run, executing back-to-back 1620s on the final two jumps.

The three-time Olympic slopestyle bronze medallist has won the X Games men’s slopestyle title seven times in Aspen.

Kleveland finished with silver, while Norway’s Mons Roisland earned bronze.

No scores were posted because in a format introduced three years ago in Aspen, athletes were ranked for “overall impression” in a jam session, in which athletes compete over a set time as opposed to a number of rounds.

McMorris won bronze at last year’s Beijing Olympics behind teammate and gold medallist Max Parrot of Bromont, Que.

Parrot is taking a year off from competition.

Earlier on Sunday, Megan Oldham of Parry Sound, Ont., secured the women’s ski slopestyle title for her second X Games gold medal in three days.

The 21-year-old edged Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland, while Kirsty Muir of Scotland took home bronze.

Also Sunday, freestyle skier Teal Harle of Campbell River, B.C., earned a silver medal in men’s big air.

Rachael Karker of Erin, Ont., earned silver in the women’s ski superpipe event on Saturday, while Quebec City’s Laurie Blouin won bronze in the women’s snowboard big air.

The 25-year-old Karker finished behind Zoe Atkin of Great Britain. American Svea Irving claimed bronze.

Blouin, 26, had a combined score of 82.00 points to finish one spot behind reigning Olympic and world champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand (86.00). Japan’s Reira Iwabuchi won gold with 87.00.

Gu takes bad crash in practice

Olympic freestyle skiing champion Eileen Gu crashed during practice for the Winter X Games and said she suffered a bad ligament strain in her knee that forced her to miss the contest.

Gu, who took two gold medals and one silver at the Beijing Games last year, posted on social media that she “had a heavy crash” during a practice Friday, and that results of an MRI showed “a bad MCL sprain, ACL strain and bone bruise.”

The 19-year-old Gu, who grew up in the U.S. but competes for her mom’s homeland of China, became the first action-sports athlete to win three medals at an Olympics. Last year in the mountains outside of Beijing, she took gold in slopestyle and halfpipe and silver in big air.

The San Francisco native is currently taking classes at Stanford for her freshman year. She also does work as a fashion model, and Forbes recently ranked her third on its list of highest-paid female athletes for 2022.

Other winners Saturday night included 14-year-old Gaon Choi of South Korea, who broke Chloe Kim’s record to become the youngest athlete to take the Winter X title in the snowboard halfpipe