Sadowski-Synnott saves best for last to take historic slopestyle gold
Feb 06, 2022·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Snowboard competition at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games opened in spectacular fashion on Sunday afternoon at Genting Snow Park, where New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott put down perhaps the most epic run ever seen in women’s competition to take slopestyle gold and make history for her nation.
Sitting in second place behind the USA’s Julia Marino before her third and final run, and the last rider to drop in on the competition as the top qualifier from Saturday, Sadowski-Synnott rose to the occasion in a way that you only ever really witness at the Olympic Games.
Sadowski-Synnott began her 92.88-scoring final run with a half-cab on 50-50 transfer straight into a lipslide on the down rail, then a frontside 270 lipslide on the next down rail, and then a frontside boardslide 450 out on the cannon rail to finish off the jib sections.
Off the skew jumps she then put down a switch backside 900 weddle, into a frontside 1080 melon on the second kicker, before finishing things off with a backside 1080 weddle that was by far the biggest air we saw on the day at Genting Snow Park - including in the men’s qualifications that followed the women’s finals.
The swarm of her competitors that greeted Sadwoski-Synnott upon her arrival in the finish area was testament to the magnitude of what her run meant, on a day when the possibilities of women’s slopestyle snowboarding were truly revealed to the world. Nearly every one of the 12 finalists rushed out and joined together in the finish area to celebrate what they knew would be the gold medal-winning run, well before the scores were in.
“I had a pretty crazy mindset going into my last run," Sadowski-Synnott said when the dust had cleared, ”I knew I had to put down the run I put down at X Games to win gold. I just took everything I had and tried to land it.”
"Going into that last jump I knew I was going way too fast," the 20-year-old said. "In the air I was like, 'Just do anything you can to just land’. I've done that trick so many times that I knew that I could do it. Man, I was so stoked. It was the best run of my life.”
Not only was it the best run of her life, it gave her what is the first ever Olympic Winter Games gold medal for New Zealand - and it came four years after she had become the first Kiwi ever to win an Olympic Winter Games medal, period, when she took big air bronze at PyeongChang 2018.
“I’m super proud of where my snowboarding has come in the last few years,” Sadowski-Synnott said, “And I’m super proud to be Kiwi and show the world what Kiwis are made of.”
The reason pre-event favourite Sadowski-Synnott had to put down the run of her life to win on Sunday was because 24-year-old Marino had put down what was perhaps the best run of her life in her second of three attempts.
Beginning with a half-cab on to backside 360 out on the first rail, Marino then went with a smooth frontside lipslide pretzel out on the down rail, into a switch boardslide underflip melon out on the cannon rail that was one of the highlight tricks of the day.
Through the jumps she stomped impeccably clean on every hit, leading with a huge backside 900 melon, into a cab double cork 900 indy, before finishing things off with a frontside 1080 weddle for a score of 87.68.
Despite being knocked out of gold medal position at the last possible moment, silver medal winner Marino knew that she had been part of - and witnessed - something special on Sunday, and had nothing but praise for Sadowski-Synnott and the rest of her competitors.
“Zoi stomped her last trick on the last line,” said Marino, “She’s got the strongest legs ever, because it sounds like she cracked the landing pretty much with that.
“I don't really think of her as my rival, she's a good friend," Marino went on, "We were all super happy for her. She's taking it to the next level doing these big tricks and other girls are like, 'Wow, I think we can do that, too'. She's so inspiring.”
The bronze medal went to Australia’s Tess Coady, as the 21-year-old charged out of the gate with the second-highest scoring run of run one, only to up the ante on run three with a frontside 180 on to switch backside 360 off on the first rail, and then a half-cab on to backside 180 off on the second, into a switch boardslide 270 out on the cannon rail to finish off the jibs.
Through the jumps she began with a switch backside 900 weddle, into a backside 720 indy, and then finally a frontside double cork 1080 mute to end it off with a score of 84.15.
Not only did Coady grab bronze, but she did so riding on an ankle that she almost couldn’t walk on after a crash before Saturday’s finals.
“Last night I just spent the whole night with ice on my foot trying to get it all good,” said Coady, “I was really stoked to land that first run and to land it pretty clean.”
“But I was listening to a podcast last night called The Bomb Hole, and one of my favourites snowboarders, Sage Kotsenberg (USA), who won the gold medal in slopestyle in (Olympic Winter Games Sochi) 2014, said, 'You can't settle with mediocrity'.
“And that's how I felt after the first run. I was really stoked to land it but, to me, it was kind of mediocre. So I was like, 'Yeah, I've got to step up,’ and I was so inspired by Zoi's run, so I really wanted to get this in.”
Sunday’s result was the first time since the sport debuted at the Olympic Winter Games that the USA’s Jamie Anderson wasn’t standing on top of the podium.
The winner of the past two gold medals, Anderson struggled throughout the day on Sunday, and had to settle for ninth place.
Action in Genting Snow Park continues on Sunday with the men’s slopestyle finals, with the first rider dropping in on run one at 12:00 local time.
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