The snowboarding sensation was forced to settle for silver in today's big air final in Beijing, upstaged by defending champion Anna Gasser.
The Austrian seized gold in a breathtaking climax at Big Air Shougang stadium, becoming the first woman to land a 1260 in Olympic competition with the penultimate jump in the final.
That left top qualifier Sadowski-Synnott with one last shot to retake the lead but, unlike in her slopestyle victory last week, she was unable to respond and couldn't quite connect on a 1260 of her own.
The silver medal will still sit triumphantly alongside her slopestyle gold and the big air bronze she claimed four years ago, giving Sadowski-Synnott the majority share of the five medals New Zealand have won at the Winter Olympics.
Nothing about her performance in Beijing suggests the 20-year-old will be stopping at three, especially with Gasser proving an inspiration at 30.
Sadowski-Synnott said after qualifying that since the top riders all knew one another's best tricks they felt genuine joy when their rivals landed a jump that had taken countless hours of hard work to master.
Standing at the top of the ramp after Gasser had done just that to storm into the gold-medal position, any joy for Sadowski-Synnott was put on hold as she prepared for her final action of these Games.
But after barely failing to land her attempt at a 1260, a jump she completed while winning double gold at the X Games last month, it was clear the Kiwi was as excited as anyone with Gasser's performance.
The pair exchanged a couple of big hugs while the scores were confirmed, Gasser taking gold with a combined 185.50 from her two best efforts as Sadowski-Synnott earned silver with 177.00.
It looked like that order would be reversed after the first two runs, with Sadowski-Synnott quickly carrying over the form that saw her take top spot in qualifying.
The Wānaka local watched her 11 rivals jump first and then immediately flew above them all on the leaderboard, her frontside double cork 1080 coming with huge air, a long grab and a silky smooth landing, riding away with a wave to the Kiwi contingent in the crowd.
It was the same trick that had set alight qualifying, only the judges were even more impressed, the 93.25 score topping her best of 91.00 yesterday.
Only Gasser (90.00) was near Sadowski-Synnott after the first round and she kept up the pressure with a backside 1080 to earn a second-round score of 86.75.
Sadowski-Synnott soon replied to retake the lead by the finest of margins, putting down a backside 1080 that was perhaps safer but no less sleek, sneaking ahead of Gasser by a quarter of a point.
The Austrian then showed just why she was the defending champion, as her unprecedented jump received a score of 95.50 to leave Sadowski-Synnott in need of perfection.
That was a level the Kiwi, for once, wasn't quite able to achieve, but it will surely be a matter of when and not if Sadowski-Synnott stands atop an Olympic podium once more.
New Zealand won't have to wait very long for another shot at the podium in Beijing, with Ben Barclay tonight booking himself a spot in the men's freeski slopestyle final.
The 20-year-old impressed in both runs during qualifying, landing 1620s to conclude two technical efforts that produced scores of 76.00 and 77.71.
Either of those runs would have been enough for a top-12 spot he needed to reach the final and the second score saw Barclay finish seventh in a 29-man field.
Compatriot Finn Bilous wasn't quite so fortunate, coming 15th with a best effort of 68.01 after finishing 13th in the event four years ago.
Alpine skier Alice Robinson also concluded her Olympic campaign with a 25th-place finish in the downhill final, finishing a disappointing Games with a creditable result in her third-favourite discipline.
