Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot, who came back from 12 rounds of chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma to win slopestyle gold and big air bronze at February’s Olympics, will not compete this season but will keep training.
“After ten years of sacrifice and continuous efforts to win, I’m allowing myself to take a break to recharge my batteries during this first year of the Olympic cycle,” Parrot, 28, said in a press release.
Parrot, after earning his first Olympic medal in 2018 (slopestyle silver), was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma on Dec. 21 of that year. Thirteen months later, he came back to win the X Games Aspen big air title.
In the Beijing slopestyle final, Parrot won with a 90.96-point second run of three. He called it the best run of his career with a triple cork 1620, a triple cork 1440 and a triple cork 1620.
“Three years ago, I was laying down on a hospital bed going through cancer,” he said after taking gold. “It was never an option for cancer to beat me, but for sure I was scared a lot of time.
“I just try to smile all day long now, and the results comes with that as well.”
In May, Parrot and his fiancée, Kayla, welcomed their first child.
“With the arrival of my son, the desire to be present for my family is stronger than going to perform in competitions,” said Parrot, the most decorated Canadian Olympic snowboarder with a medal of every color.
Previously, two-time Olympic halfpipe champion Chloe Kim and 2018 Olympic big air gold medalist Sébastien Toutant announced they are taking the post-Olympic season off.
The snowboard season includes X Games Aspen in late January and the world championships in Georgia (the country, not the state) in February and March.
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