Snow sports: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott claims silver medal in first World Cup event of 2023

New Zealand snowboarding star Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has kicked off her 2023 World Cup season in style by mirroring her tremendous result at the Winter Olympics with a silver medal in Austria.

Competing in her first major competition since Beijing last year, Sadowski-Synnott recovered superbly from a crash in her first run to secure the impressive result.

Events in the Big Air World Cup are scored differently to what Kiwi snowboarding fans observed in Beijing, with competitors’ best two runs from three attempts combining to produce an overall final score.

That meant the pressure was on Sadowski-Synnott after the zero-score in after run one.

“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 following the event.

True to her word, Sadowski-Synnott nailed a highly technical switch backside 1260 with a weddle grab in her second run to light up the competition. Her score of 97.50 was the single highest score of the day.

It’s a trick her coaching team are extremely excited about as she attempts to maintain momentum from her headline-grabbing 2022.

“Zoi’s switch backside 1260 weddle was the best trick landed yet in women’s snowboard competition. Landing this in competition after achieving it in training at Cardrona Alpine Resort back in September is a momentous occasion that has taken a whole lot of focus and dedication. Having this new trick in Zoi’s arsenal is a massive asset for future events.”

To finish the competition, Sadowski-Synnott laced together a textbook backside 1080, scoring a 79.00 that left her in second place, behind Beijing gold-medallist Anna Gasser of Austria and ahead of Beijing bronze medallist Kokomo Murase of Japan.

“It was a bit like Déjà vu being the same podium as the Olympics which is a bit crazy, 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,” she said.

Sadowski-Synnott and the Kiwi snowboarders will next be in action next weekend at the LAAX Slopestyle World Cup in Switzerland.