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Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has added another chapter to her Olympic legacy, landing silver in a nail-biting Snowboard Slopestyle final and bringing her medal tally to five. She is now the most decorated Olympic snowboarder in the world.
Back in action after yesterday’s postponement due to blizzard conditions, the women’s Snowboard Slopestyle final finally got underway at Livigno Snow Park. The field was a compelling mix of rising talent and seasoned Olympic medallists, setting the stage for a high-level contest.
Last to drop in run one, Sadowski-Synnott went big on the jumps, linking a 1080 with back-to-back 900s. However, an early exit on one of the rail features had cost her valuable points. Her score of 73.01 placed her third at the end of the opening round.
Japan’s Murase Kokomo led the field on 79.30, executing a technical rail section before opting for a more conservative jump line of 900, 900 and 720. With her reputation for higher-rotation tricks, there was an expectation she would step things up in run two.
Other top qualifiers, Iwabuchi Reira (JPN) and Yu Seungeun (KOR), were unable to put down clean opening runs. Meanwhile, Japan’s Fukada Mari fired an early warning, attempting a switch backside 1260 on run one but unable to land it — a sign that she would be pulling out all the stops in the hunt for a medal.
With two attempts still to come, the battle for the podium was in full swing as riders headed back to the top.
Fukada adjusted her approach on run two, dialling back the rotation to a 900, 720 and 720 on the jumps but landing cleanly. Combined with a technical rail section, her effort earned 85.70 — the new score to beat.
Teammate Murase responded by stepping up the difficulty, attempting a 1260 on the third jump, but she couldn’t hold the landing.
Sadowski-Synnott dropped in for her second run sitting fourth. Carrying strong speed and landing deep on her jumps, she linked a 900 into back-to-back 1080s, showing clear intent to raise the difficulty when it mattered most. However, once again, she’d lost points on the execution of the second rail. While she’d lifted her score to 77.61, she remained outside the medal positions heading into the final round.
Fukada got the 1260 down clean on run three, lifting her score to 87.83 and sitting at the top of the leaderboard. Sadowski-Synnott would need to go higher than a 78.78 to reach the podium.
Responding in style, she cleaned up the rail section and once again went big on the jumps, driving her score up to 87.48 to claim the silver medal — the fifth Olympic medal of her career.
Sadowski-Synnott explained her approach to her final run: “Dropping into my last run, I took a moment to take it all in. Just the experience of being here and how lucky it is to drop in last and how privileged it is to be in that position. I felt really grateful and wanted to put everything I could into that last run, put it down when it mattered.”
As well as New Zealand's most successful Winter Olympian, Sadowski-Synnott is now the world's most decorated Olympic snowboarder. When asked how she feels about this, Sadowski-Synnott said, “It feels pretty insane to be honest. I didn’t know the stats going into this Olympics, I just really wanted to represent New Zealand the best I can, and represent the sport I love and share it with the world. To have five Olympic medals, it’s pretty sick.
“Growing up in New Zealand I started snowboarding when I was eight and I wanted to get as good as I could. I was addicted that feeling of slowly getting better and learning new tricks. I just loved the feeling because it makes me feel alive and just to have the opportunity to go to the Olympics coming from the small country of New Zealand who aren’t known to be huge winter athletes, there were zero expectations. I’m just proud to represent New Zealand.”
Asking about the secret to her success, Sadowski-Synnott said, “I attribute my success to the people around me. I’ve been with most of my team for almost a decade, since I was 15 years old and I have a really supportive family and a great crew around me who are really supportive and help me achieve my goals. Just being a Kiwi, we’re always a bit of an underdog and any chance we get to show who we are on the world stage we’ll try and do our best.”
Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle medals:
Gold: Fukada Mari (JPN)
Silver: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL)
Bronze: Murase Kokomo (JPN)