Source: Radio New Zealand
Olympic medallist Zoi Sadowski-Synnott was honoured by her team mates with a haka following her silver medal win in the Big Air event at the Winter Olympics in Italy.
It was a record third medal in the event for Sadowski-Synott, who took silver in Beijing in 2022 and bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018.
“I went and saw my family, and then I turned around and the whole team was performing a haka for me,” she said. “It was really special and meant a lot to me.”
Sadowski-Synnott described the final is hugely inspiring.
“That was incredible! It was such a high level of snowboarding, and to see the progression over the last four years and see what it takes to get on the podium now, I couldn’t be more inspired,” she said.
“I’m just really grateful to be a part of it. It’s amazing seeing all these girls from all over the world who are really passionate about snowboarding doing so well.”
Team mates perform a haka in Zoi Sadowski-Synnott’s honour. Screenshot/Sky
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