Source: Radio New Zealand
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.
Silver medallist New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski Synnott poses on the podium after the snowboard women’s big air final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. AFP/KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV
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 admitted there was a lot of tension today.
“I’ve never been so nervous for a competition before,” she told Sky Sport.
“Scary tricks and putting them down when it matters is really hard and I’m just really grateful that I was able to put it down.”
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.
Sadowski-Synnott said she did take a bit of a risk attempting her first run.
“I gave the back-triple a go in practice, but I didn’t land it and going into that first run, I was pretty nervous and you feel like you can’t even walk and so not landing it definitely calmed my nerves a bit.
“[I knew] that was kind of the worst thing that can happen and I’m just really stoked to put my second and third runs down.”
(From L) Silver medallist New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski Synnott, gold medallist Japan’s Kokomo Murase and bronze medallist South Korea’s Yu Seungeun pose on the podium after the snowboard women’s big air final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. AFP/JEFF PACHOUD
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 improve 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 score board.
She held that position until the last two competitors, with Murase finishing on 179 points compared to Sadowski-Synott’s 172.25.
Team NZ perform haka for Zoi Sadowski-Synnott after silver medal win. Screenshot/Sky
“So stoked, I can’t even explain it. After I got my score, I just ran over to my family and gave them a big hug and there were some tears.
“I knew it [the top score] was probably not going to hold, but to end up with the silver… I’m just so happy.”
Sadowski-Synnott will defend her Slopestyle title next week.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
