Sadowski Synnott Gets New Zealand’s 1st Winter Olympic Gold
Feb 5, 2022, 8:33 PM | Updated: Feb 6, 2022, 1:14 pm
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Zoi Sadowski Synnott captured New Zealand’s first gold medal in Winter Olympic history, stomping down a pressure-packed run on her last trip down the mountain to win the title in women’s slopestyle.
The 20-year-old was one of the very few to put down clean run on a supersized course, where hardpacked snow and bone-cold wind chills made things difficult on all 12 finalists.
WOMEN SUPPORTING WOMEN!!!!!
We love this show of support from the snowboarding slopestyle finalists 🥺🥺🥺#WinterOlympics | @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/2D3r4aAxjG
— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) February 6, 2022
That included two-time defending champion Jamie Anderson, who finished ninth.
Sadowski Synnott went into her last of three runs trailing American Julia Marino but came up big.
HISTORY FOR NEW ZEALAND! 🇳🇿
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, winner of the first-ever #WinterOlympics gold medal for her country! pic.twitter.com/sKqa4x263O
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 6, 2022
She landed a double-cork 1080 on the second jump, and while not repeating that jump the way she did when she won the Winter X Games last month, her backside 1080 off the final kicker was more than enough.
