‘Stoked’ Zoi Sadowski-Synnott recovers from crash to claim silver at Big Air World Cup

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott recovered from a crash on her first run to claim silver at the Big Air World Cup in her first major competition since her success at the Winter Olympics.

Sadowski-Synnott finished second in between Austrian gold medallist Anna Gasser and Japan’s Kokomo Murase in Kreischberg, Austria on Saturday (Sunday NZ time).

“It was super sick to be back in the bib, I’m stoked to be back competing. My last competition was the Winter Olympics, so to end up on the podium at my first comp back is awesome,” Sadowski-Synnott said.

The same trio were on the podium in the same order when the Wānaka snowboarder collected silver in big air last February at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

READ MORE:
* Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Black Ferns headline finalists for Halberg Awards
* Stuff’s sporting heroes and villains of a memorable year
* Nico Porteous, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Corey Peters recognised in New Year’s Honours
* Kiwi snowboarding sensation Zoi Sadowski-Synnott wins Lonsdale Cup

It was her second medal of the Beijing Games after her historic gold in slopestyle – New Zealand’s first in the Winter Olympics after 70 years – and her third Olympic medal after her big air bronze as a 16-year-old in 2018 in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Sadowski-Synnott’s gold in China was the highlight of a memorable year in which she won a host of global snowboarding events and dominated the sport.

Her new competitive season began in Austria this weekend with the Big Air World Cup but started with a tumble in her first run of the final.

She was attempting a highly technical switch backside 1260, with a weddle grab, and crashed, although she attempted the trick a second time and was successful, earning the event’s highest score of 97.50 on her second jump.

“In qualifiers I had the same situation where I fell on my first run, I just had to keep my head in the game, I knew I could do the trick, so I just had to stay focused,” Sadowski-Synnott said.

She was awarded 79.00 for her third run of the final after a backside 1080 and earned a combined score of 176.50.

In big air, competitors have three runs when their highest two scores combined count, but they must be two different tricks.

But Gasser beat Sadowski-Synnott to gold with a score of 179.75 in front of her home crowd.

The Austrian also pipped Sadowski-Synnott to gold at last year’s Winter Olympics and Murase claimed bronze again.

“It was a big like déjà vu being the same podium as the Olympics which is a bit crazy.” Sadowski-Synnott said.

“I am super stoked with how the event went because all the girls were ripping so hard and it is awesome to be on the podium once again with Anna and Kokomo.”

Sadowski-Synnott’s compatriot, Cool Wakushima, finished 11th in the women’s big air and didn’t make the final.

In the men’s competition, New Zealanders Lyon Farrell and Cam Melville Ives finished 13th and 21st respectively.

Kiwi snowboarders return to the mountain next weekend in the LAAX Slopestyle World Cup in Switzerland.