Kiwi star on top of world
Kiwi teenager Zoi SadowskiSynnott has begun 2021 in style.
The 19-year-old brushed off a crash on her first attempt to surge to win the opening FIS Snowboard Big Air World Cup event in Kreischberg, Austria, yesterday for what was her first World Cup title.
The Wanaka-based SadowskiSynnott came up trumps in her final two runs, stomping a backside 1080 to score 81.60 then a switch back 900 for an 80.80. That made for a winning total of 162.40, with Japan’s Kokomo Murase second (161.80) and Olympic gold medallist Anna Gasser third (161.40) on home snow.
‘‘It was pretty difficult [after crashing the first run], I put a lot of pressure on myself, but I wanted to land the backside 1080 in competition,’’ she said.
‘‘I only learnt it in New Zealand this summer and so I was just stoked to land that in my second run.
‘‘I wasn’t expecting it but I’m super stoked. I can’t believe it, everyone was sending it and the jump was so perfect – girls were sending, it was sick.’’
The World Cup title is the latest in a string of achievements for the young star.
Sadowski-synnott won bronze at the last Winter Olympics, in 2018 in Pyeongchang, where at age 16 years 353 days she briefly became New Zealand’s youngest Olympic medallist, before Nico Porteous broke the record later the same day.
In 2019 she claimed the triple crown in the slopestyle discipline, taking out the Winter X Games, FIS world championship and US Open titles.
This World Cup event was Sadowski-synnott’s first chance to earn qualification points towards the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
There were seven other Kiwis in action, with snowboarders Cool Wakushima, Tiarn Collins and Mitchell Davern finished 17th, 18th and 36th, while freeskiers Margaux Hackett, Ben Barclay and Luca Harrington were 12th, 38th and 48th.