Canadian slopestyle snowboard team quarantined due to two positive COVID-19 tests

LAAX, Switzerland — Canada’s slopestyle snowboard team is in isolation and will not participate in this week’s World Cup season opener after two members of its delegation tested positive for COVID-19.

The International Ski Federation (FIS) said on its website that the positive tests came at the slopestyle and halfpipe event.

The men’s slopestyle event began its qualifying Tuesday with Canadians Mark McMorris, Max Parrot, Sebastien Toutant, Liam Brearley and Cameron Spalding listed as “did not start.”

Women’s slopestyle qualifying begins Wednesday. Laurie Blouin, Brooke Voigt, Jasmine Baird and Sommer Gendron are the Canadian women on the slopestyle team who traveled to Switzerland but will not be able to compete.

The status of Canada’s halfpipe team was not provided on the FIS’s website.

Meanwhile, the majority of the American snowboard team is in quarantine in Kreischberg, Austria, after two members of its delegation tested positive following the big air season opener last week. A small U.S. team is participating in Laax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2021.

The Canadian Press