Winter Olympics 2026: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott overcomes nerves and tricky conditions to clinch snowboard slopestyle silver

When in Italy. Zoi Sadowski-Synnott was planning to celebrate her fifth Winter Olympic medal with pizza after a nerve-racking silver medal finish in the snowboard slopestyle at Livigno Snow Park.

Sadowski-Synnott, the defending champion, was sitting outside the podium before her final run. But she left her best until last, scoring 87.48 to jump to silver medal position, just behind gold medal winner Mari Fukada, of Japan, by 0.35.

It was her second silver of the Games after finishing second in the big air last week.

“It feels pretty special, to be honest, especially after not a great first two runs. I had to just give it everything I had, and we had some struggles with speed with a bit of a headwind. Kind of had to tuck into all of the jumps, and I’m just pretty grateful that I was able to put it down on that last run,“ she told Ryan Bridge TODAY.

With five Olympic medals, Sadowski-Synnott is tied for the second-most decorated New Zealand Olympian alongside equestrian Sir Mark Todd and kayakers Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald.

Sadowski-Synnott told Ryan Bridge TODAY that the postponement of the competition for a day, because of heavy snow, and then tricky conditions, made for a tough final and added to the nerves.

“We struggled with speed because of fresh snow. They tried to clear the course but, when you have fresh snow, it hasn’t quite settled or compacted yet, so it’s not as fast and we also had a headwind, which when you’re going off 60-ft jumps trying to do your best tricks, it adds a bit of a spanner in the works. All of us girls knew that we were playing with these conditions and we train for this, we know this is what comes with our sport. We just gave it everything we had.

“I do get pretty nervous. We planned for this for a really long time, and then for it to get pushed back another day definitely adds to it. I’m just really grateful for the support and the team I have around me that support me to make sure I can perform my best. I wouldn’t be here without everyone around me and all the support from New Zealand.”

Sadowski-Synnott is the first athlete, male or female, from any country to win a quintet of Olympic medals in snowboard.

“I don’t know what the future holds,” the 24-year-old said. “I’m just really grateful to have gotten two medals and make it five. Looking forward to taking some time off, and we’ll see what the future holds.”