Canada's Max Parrot overcomes cancer to win Winter Olympic gold

CHONGLI, Zhangjiakou, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- After winning a long battle against cancer, Max Parrot of Canada won gold in the men's snowboard slopestyle at Beijing 2022 here on Monday.

"This is so incredibly special, especially with the run I did today. It's the biggest run I've done in my entire career," said Parrot.

Parrot was diagnosed with cancer after the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, and underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy in 2019.

"It definitely makes you a lot stronger mentally. It definitely changed me as a person and as an athlete as well," said the 27-year-old.

"Every time I strap my feet onto my snowboard, I appreciate it so much more than before. You're smiling more, and everything's more positive. You put less pressure on yourself, less stress on yourself," he added.

"I'm mostly all the time thinking about that, and having that pressure off makes me ride even better."

The three-time Olympian was able to step it up a notch from his PyeongChang 2018 silver medal in his second run, where he landed all his tricks for a best run of 90.96 points.

"You're just out there doing your best trying to achieve the runs you want to do, having fun and being on your board," he said. "In the end that's all that matters."