麻豆社区

Max Melvin-McNutt鈥檚 season didn鈥檛 finish as planned.

After the 21-year-old successfully raised $8,000 through crowd-funding to attend a variety of events on the World Cup slopestyle circuit, his year was cut short by injuries sustained while snowboarding.

While practising for his first event in Stoneham, Que., in February, Melvin-McNutt crashed on his last run, badly injuring his right ankle.

鈥淚 badly strained and sprained a lot of my ligaments and muscles,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was the most painful sprain I鈥檝e ever had and it ended up taking a really long time to heal. So that put me out for that contest.鈥�

With tickets already booked for a subsequent World Cup event in Park City, Utah, Melvin-McNutt attempted to gut it out, but eventually found he was unable to compete there, either.

Frustrated, he returned to Whistler where he worked hard to regain his strength. Satisfied, the Whitehorse native boarded a plane for the Czech Republic in early March, where he logged his only result of the season 鈥� a 28th-place finish at the Audi Snowjam.

鈥淚 did the contest, but my ankle was still injured,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥坖ust taped it up and didn鈥檛 end up doing too well.鈥�

Melvin-McNutt then attempted to compete in the Pamporovo Freestyle Open in Bulgaria, but sustained a season-ending concussion during a practice run that ultimately knocked him out of the Canadian national championships.

Melvin-McNutt, a member of the national development snowboarding team, has twice broken his collarbone in previous seasons.

Last year, he finished the season ranked 14th in Canada.

Because of his injuries, last year鈥檚 results will be frozen, allowing the snowboarder to retain his contest points from last season into next year.

鈥淚鈥坓ot bumped down to 18th in Canada,鈥� said Melvin-McNutt, who will continue in his attempts to become the first Yukoner to make Team Canada.

鈥淚鈥檓 going to keep going for sure,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥坔ave all the ambition and the talent for it, I鈥檓 pretty sure. It鈥檚 gotten me this far. I just have to keep going with it.

鈥淚鈥檓 just grateful that people supported me and I鈥檓 sorry that it didn鈥檛 turn out as well as I hoped it would.鈥�

鈥� 鈥� 鈥�

Meanwhile, freestyle skier Miguel Rodden, who in January was seeking votes to attend the B&E Invitational in France, failed to earn a wildcard position despite a good amount of support from his Yukon fans.

Rodden, 21, said despite failing to make the grade, he was still 鈥渟uper stoked鈥� about his top-five placement in the online contest, thanking everyone who took the time to vote.