Canada鈥檚 Mark McMorris is doing all he can to stay safe ahead of the Beijing Olympics 鈥� which he expects will start as scheduled.
McMorris will be competing at a snowboarding World Cup event in Mammoth Mountain, Calif., this weekend and then 鈥渓aying incredibly low鈥� until the Beijing Olympics begin in early February. The 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo were delayed one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and surging infection rates because of the Omicron variant have once again raised the spectre of a postponed Olympics.
He said he鈥檚 relying on room service in his Las Vegas hotel room until it鈥檚 time to leave for California, then he鈥檒l do some training in Whistler, B.C., before holing up and waiting for his flight to China.
鈥淭hink it鈥檚 a small price to pay for something that is a huge goal of mine to go there and compete and I鈥檝e been waiting for a while for this one,鈥� said McMorris on Monday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really too bad that (Omicron) popped up and it鈥檚 so transmissible right before the Games.
鈥淚t seemed a little chiller when the Summer Games were going on. But yeah, here we go.鈥�
McMorris will be competing in the big air and slopestyle competitions at his third Olympics in Beijing. He won a bronze medal in slopestyle at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and then earned the same result in 2018 at the Pyeongchang Games, 11 months after a catastrophic accident while going snowboarding in the backcountry outside of Whistler.
The 28-year-old Regina native said that aside from this weekend鈥檚 competition he will be isolated with his team until Beijing. When contact is necessary with people outside that bubble he will be 鈥渄ouble masked up.鈥�
鈥淛ust really trying to stay out of harm鈥檚 way for just a month. You know, just get there at least,鈥� said McMorris. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 been so freaked out of getting it until now.鈥�
McMorris had a challenging 2020-21 season including struggles qualifying for the Beijing Olympics. He missed the opening World Cup event of the season in Laax, Switzerland, when all of Canada鈥檚 team was quarantined because of COVID-19.
He then tested positive for the virus 鈥� although he remained asymptomatic 鈥� on Jan. 26, forcing him to miss the X-Games in Aspen, Colo.
Much of his season was captured in 鈥淐hasing Winter,鈥� a four-part documentary series produced by Red Bull and currently streaming on CBC Gem. Starring McMorris and featuring Americans Jake Caster, Brock Crouch, Hailey Langland, as well as Japan鈥檚 Takeru Otsuka and Miyabi Onitsuka, the series follows the snowboarders as they try to qualify for the Olympics 鈥� which, as a running joke, none of them can refer to by name for copyright reasons.
鈥淚t was really cool to show me going to my third Games and what my path has looked like over the last four years,鈥� said McMorris. 鈥淎nd then bring in all these people that I think have really, really awesome stories to tell, and have a good shot at going (to the Olympics) and just wanting to bring the audience in and show that it鈥檚 a real thing. It鈥檚 gnarly and it鈥檚 fun.鈥�
鈥擩ohn Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
