When good neighbours become medallists
New Zealand’s two degrees of separation rule applies to bronze medal-winning teenagers Nico Porteous and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, who are good pals from way back.
As the reality of owning one of only three New Zealand Winter Olympic medals sank in, Porteous was quick to deflect attention from himself and congratulate his bronze medal-winning buddy SadowskiSynnott.
‘‘Everyone’s stoked. I’m stoked; we are all stoked, especially with Zoi getting a medal. It’s so cool.’’
Porteous took bronze in the men’s ski halfpipe on Thursday while Sadowski-Synnot got her bronze in the inaugural women’s snowboard big air finals.
‘‘We’re real good friends. We are both sponsored by Red Bull and we are both team-mates. Its so cool for us both to be able to get a bronze medal, it’s super sick.’’
Both 16-year-olds are based in Wanaka and when Sadowski-Synnott migrated there from Australia aged just six, the pair quickly became familiar with each other and the friendship blossomed.
Porteous is 262 days younger than Sadowski-Synnott and he claimed the prize of NZ’s youngest Olympic medallist just two hours after she held the title, not that he was even thinking about the podium.
After holding the gold medal spot for most of the second run, Porteous was overtaken by United States veteran David Wise and Alex Ferreira and still had one run left to make a last dash at gold or even silver. He chose to ‘‘surf’’ down the pipe and have a little fun.
Porteous had decided he had nailed the best run of his life. Pure and simple he wasn’t going to top it.
‘‘I had nothing left, I had nothing left. It was all I could do.
‘‘That was seriously the best I’ve ever skied and that was every single trick I had in my trick book that come out to play in the best order possible.
‘‘I seriously couldn’t have done anything more, I was just like, I am proud of how I’ve skied and I’m super stoked and whatever happens, happens. So I just kind of let it be and let it happen.’’
The bronze has motivated him to push even harder. ‘‘I just want to be myself and really progress the sport as much as I can. I want to be remembered as someone who really pushed the sport to its absolute max and just really tried their hardest.
‘‘I am going to be trying so hard, training so hard. Of course I want to get better, like I said I really want to push the sport.’’
Before his finals run Porteous said he was sick three times, not unusual for him before big competition. It was also only nine weeks ago that he tore his MCL and was in doubt for the Winter Olympic Kiwi squad.
But the confident teen was never in doubt of his ability and said the nerves worked in his favour.
‘‘I was so nervous at the top but i had to go with it. Of course I’m going to be nervous. I’m skiing at an Olympic final; it’s unnatural not to be, so I just really harnessed those nerves and went for it.’’
Not expecting a medal, Porteous had planned to ski with pals in France directly after the Olympics but will have to rethink his schedule.
‘‘I’m just going to take it easy with my family, probably have a couple of Red Bulls.
‘‘I am so proud to be a New Zealander and have the country behind us. It’s been unbelievable the amount of support we’ve been given. It is so cool.’’