Parrot wins Big Air; Horgmo last in heat

— -- ASPEN, Colo. -- Canadian rider Maxence Parrot won his first X Games gold medal in the America's Navy Snowboard Big Air final Friday. He had a backside triple cork 1620 and Cab triple underflip to late 180 in his best two runs for the top combined score.

"It's X Games, it's a big contest, it's my first time at Big Air, and wow, I'm just so happy right now," Parrot said. "I knew what I was going to do, I planned every run and I knew with these runs I would win."

Japanese rider Yuki Kadono gave Parrot a run for it, matching Parrot's best single-run score with a backside triple cork 1620 of his own and a backside triple cork 1440 for the silver medal.

Norwegian rider Ståle Sandbech won bronze, thanks to a backside triple cork 1440 and Cab 1260.

All three medalists will face off again in Sochi when slopestyle makes its Olympic debut.

Parrot said saving himself for the Olympics was far from his mind Friday.

"I don't even realize yet that I'm going to the Olympics," he said. "I'm just focusing contest by contest."

The biggest surprise of the night was that X Games Aspen 2013 Big Air gold medalist Torstein Horgmo missed the cut for finals after falls in the first round. Horgmo has mostly owned Big Air competition in recent years, winning three gold and two silver medals in his seven previous X Games appearances.

Mark McMorris, the Big Air gold medalist from 2012, dropped out of the competition Friday to focus on slopestyle.

"With Sochi fast approaching," McMorris said, "I want to keep my focus on slopestyle here at X Games."