Source: Radio New Zealand
Zoi Sadowski Synnott at the 2026 Winter Olympics. ULRIK PEDERSEN / AFP
New Zealand snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has grabbed the silver medal in the Big Air event at the Winter Olympics in Italy, matching her result from four years ago.
Kokomo Murase, of Japan, won the gold medal, with Seungeun Yu of South Korea taking bronze.
It is a record third medal in the event for Sadowski-Synott, who took silver in Beijing in 2022 and bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Sadowski-Synott went into the final as the top qualifier, but a disappointing first run put the pressure on her for the rest of the competition.
She was in tenth place after the first run when she failed to stick her landing and only managed a score of 27.75, with Japan’s Kokomo Murase leading the way with a score of 89.75.
With the best two scores from the three runs counting, Sadowski-Synott needed to pull out something special to salvage her competition.
The 24-year-old completed a backside triple-cork 1440 in her second run to score 88.75 and improved to eighth, while Korean Seungeun took the lead from Murase.
The Kiwi dropped in fifth in the final run, needing another high-scoring jump and responded with a switch backside 1260, which scored 83.50 and took her to the top of the scoreboard.
She held that position until the last two competitors, with Murase finishing on 179 points compared to Sadowski-Synott’s 172.25.
Sadowski-Synnott will defend her Slopestyle title next week.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
