Snowboarding
Meet Mark McMorris, the most decorated athlete in snowboard history
Take a deep dive into the accolades and battles that characterize the Canadian snowboarder's historic career.
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Mark McMorris’ accomplishments transcend far beyond the realms of snowboarding. His natural ability to rise to the occasion; his perseverance to overcome adversity; and his set extraordinary talents have casted the 29-year-old snowboarder as a Canadian sporting icon.
He’s won a record-setting 22 X Games medals, four US Open Championships, three Olympic medals, and introduced a number of world-first tricks that have revolutionized the sport. Even today, a decade after taking the competitive snowboard scene by force, McMorris is still considered to be one of the most dangerous riders in any competition he enters.
Mark McMorris, sending it in slopestyle in 2016
© Burton/Red Bull Content Pool
From learning to snowboard in Canada’s flattest province, to battling back from life-threatening injury to reclaim X Games gold, this is the story of McMorris’ snowboarding career.
01
The Early Days (1993-2011)
McMorris was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, and strapped into his first snowboard at the age of five. It’s said that he and his brother Craig — who were already hooked on skateboarding — refused to try skiing, and were naturally drawn to snowboarding since day one.
“From my first time strapping into a snowboard, it brought me the ultimate joy,” said McMorris. “But it wasn’t until I was 7, when I started spending more and more time hitting boxes and jumps at Mission Ridge, that I felt the presence of the snowboard community. I began rubbing shoulders with the older kids and it became all I wanted to do.”
3 min
McMorris & McMorris: Trailer
Watch the trailer for a new series starring the McMorris brothers airing on MTV Canada
He and his brother would frequently gather snow from hockey rinks and build jib setups in their backyard every fall, and shred Regina’s yearly average 100cm snowfall at nearby Mission Ridge Winter Park. The 97.5 metre vertical drop wasn’t ideal, but like any Prairie kid, he made the most of it.
“As a kid I just really enjoyed sports, the ones that always stood out to me were the ones that weren't easily accessed. I had so much passion for snowboarding that it didn't matter that I was from the flattest place in Canada, I was going to do it for the rest of my life.”
At the age of 11, McMorris was invited to join the Saskatchewan snowboard team; which facilitated monthly trips to the Canadian Rockies or the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. Here, he had the opportunity to hit larger features, ride alongside skilled riders, and dial in more progressive tricks. Just four years later, he turned professional and began his lengthy career with a World Cup Slopestyle win in 2010.
02
The HayDays (2011-2016)
The haydays of Mark McMorris were stacked with gold medals, world firsts, and a near-perfect reign over the competitive snowboard scene.
In 2011, McMorris finished second in his inaugural X Games Slopestyle appearance behind fellow teen prodigy Sébastien Toutant. His textbook rail game, paired with his progressive trick selection over the jumps, foreshadowed what was to come. Later that year, he would explode into the mainstream after stomping the first-ever Backside Triple Cork 1440 at a TransWorld Snowboarding shoot in Snowmass, Colorado.
“The jump was perfect, I was surrounded by friends, and it made for one of the most special days of my career thus far — it was an exciting time to set the bar in snowboarding,” added McMorris.
This raving momentum would follow him into the 2012 season and pave the way to double X Games gold in both Slopestyle and Big Air disciplines — a feat he would repeat in 2015. Beyond claiming top honours, McMorris pulled out his signature Backside Triple Cork 1440 for the first time in competition and subsequently set a new gold standard for Big Air progression.
Sébastien Toutant and Mark McMorris seen back in 2013
© Sebastian Marko/Red Bull Content Pool
“Seb [Toutant] and I definitely stepped onto the scene with a vengeance,” he explained. “We weren’t just happy to be there hanging alongside our heroes, because we knew we had the tricks to win.”
McMorris’ trailblazing trickery
- Landed the first-ever Backside Triple Cork 1440 in 2011
- Repeated the Backside Triple Cork 1440 for the first time in competition at X Games 2012
- Stomped the first-ever frontside Triple Cork 1440 at X Games 2015
- Landed the world first Double Cork off of a rail in 2018
8 min
Mark McMorris lands a world-first trick
Follow snowboard pro Mark McMorris’s story of attempting the first Front Board Backside Double Cork 1170.
Now in a new echelon of snowboarding, McMorris was invited to test his skills on a backcountry Slopestyle course at Travis Rice’s Red Bull Supernatural event. But his descent down the 2,200 vertical feet of British Columbia powder was uncharacteristic. Despite an unfavourable performance, this exposure to backcountry riding ignited a desire and drive to expand his craft in the big mountains.
Returning to the perfectly groomed slopes of Aspen, Colorado, McMorris would put together the highest scoring run in X Games Slopestyle history in 2013, and would continue to occupy the podium for years to come.
Mark McMorris on the Winter X podium
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
03
The Down Days (2016-2018)
It’s 2016 and McMorris just captured his sixth X Games gold medal in Slopestyle, and a silver in Big Air. Now in downtown Los Angeles, he’s standing atop a 16-story scaffolding jump setup at Air + Style.
Straight lining down a 65-foot drop in, he throws a Frontside Triple Cork 1440, lands backseat, and catches his toe edge on the bumpy landing. The result is a snapped femur. He undergoes surgery, and has a metal rod inserted into his leg.
“The accident was devastating,” explained McMorris. “But I knew that I had a deep bag of tricks at the time, and was a little bit ahead of the field, so if I was to battle back, I’d still be able to hang at the top.”
McMorris would return to claim double X Games bronze less than a year later.
Though McMorris possessed an innate ability to rebound from serious injury and maintain dominance in an evolving field, his comeback story was halted by another setback. In early 2017, he suffered multiple life-threatening injuries — including a broken jaw, broken left arm, ruptured spleen, fractured pelvis, rib fractures, and collapsed left lung — after colliding with a tree while backcountry snowboarding near Whistler, B.C..
“The tree accident was a different story,” he added. “It was hard to imagine returning to the scene and standing atop the podium in an era where progression was moving so fast — at points there was doubt in my mind that I would even return.”
“But, I did it. Even after all of my rehab and recovery, I was able to represent Canada just eleven months later in PyeongChang, and in 2019, return to the X Games to win gold in Slopestyle and silver in Big Air.”
After everything that happened, I proved to myself that I was still capable of being one of the best.
04
The Modern Days (2018-2022)
Over a decade since winning his first X Games medal, McMorris still occupies the forefront of competitive snowboarding. His history of resiliency proves that he’s willing to do anything to achieve his goals — and today, his goals have trickled into the world of backcountry snowboarding
Mark McMorris plows through the powder at Baldface Lodge
© Tim Zimmerman/Red Bull Content Pool
“I was always excited to ride any type of powdery snow in the Canadian Rockies as a kid,” said McMorris. “And ever since, I’ve put quite a bit of time each year into riding untracked runs in the mountains.”
McMorris kicked off the 2022 season in style as he captured his 10th Winter X Games gold medal in an exciting Slopestyle final in Aspen. He landed a switch backside triple cork 1620 stalefish, a frontside triple cork 1440 Weddle and a backside triple cork 1620 Indy on his fourth run to win a record-breaking sixth Slopestyle title – overtaking the mark of snowboarding legend Shaun White. This commanding performance would set the tone ahead of Beijing 2022 — the pinnacle of his competitive year.
You wait four years for this moment, try to perfect everything, work as hard as you can, and hope to rise to the occasion.
The three-time Olympian would hop on a plane just two weeks later and join 214 fellow Canadian athletes on a quest for gold at Beijing 2022. Under the world’s eye, McMorris overcame the pressure and stomped a near-flawless run on his third and final attempt in the finals. This daring effort resulted in his third straight Olympic bronze medal, after a narrow defeat by China’s Su Yiming, and Canada’s Max Parrot.
05
2023 X Games: Mark McMorris cements himself as a snowboard legend
McMorris stood at the top of the slopestyle course at the 2023 X Games in Aspen for his final of four runs. His first three runs were solid. Enough to put him in second, behind Markus Kleveland, but this is Mark McMorris; he was going to lay it all on the line and go for the gold.
McMorris cruised through the top rail section easily, putting down two perfect double flips on the shark-fin features, and lined himself up for the final two jumps that stand between him and glory.
Craig McMorris, Mark's brother, and X Games commentator was dead silent as his brother puts down a switch triple cork 1620 (four and a half complete rotations) on the first jump.
The crowd exploded as he stomped another triple cork 1620 (this time regular and backside) off the final jump. "Are you kidding me!?" Craig screamed from the commentator's booth. He knows a gold medal run when he sees one.
The back-to-back 16's put McMorris at the top of the podium and straight into the history books, while Marcus Kleveland settled for the silver medal, and Norway's Mons Roisland took home the bronze.
Since his first X Games medal in 2011, a silver in Aspen, McMorris has amassed 22 medals, surpassing American Jamie Anderson for the most X Games medals won in history.
At 29 years old and the oldest competitor in the X Games slopestyle field, McMorris clearly isn't ready to hang up the snowboard boots just yet. Everyone is stoked to see what comes next for one of the greatest snowboarders of all time.
Go behind the scenes of Chasing Winter
What's Next?
Now, McMorris is once again shifting his focus towards the backcountry as he hopes to take top honours at snowboarding’s most anticipated event of the year — the Natural Selection Tour.
Learn more about the Natural Selection Tour
In 2021, McMorris released standout footage in Burton’s One World, and subsequently won the first stop of Travis Rice’s Natural Selection Tour in Jackson Hole, Wyoming — proving to the world his legacy stretches far beyond his Slopestyle ranks.
“Competing in Natural Selection was a huge career highlight for me,” explained McMorris, “but right now, I’m balancing backcountry riding with competing, but some day, I’ll put more emphasis on it.”
Watch Mark McMorris and an all-star cast of Slopestyle and Big Air riders as they prepared for the 2022 competitive season in Chasing Winter:
42 min
Chasing Winter
Pro snowboarder Mark McMorris and friends prepare for the upcoming high-stakes competition season.
McMorris' Greatest Achievements
- He’s won a record-setting 22 Winter X Games medals
- He set the highest score in X Games Slopestyle history with a 98.00 in 2013
- He has collected three straight Olympic bronze medal
- He won won the first stop of Travis Rice’s Natural Selection Tour 2021 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
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