New Zealand snow sports stars Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous have both claimed gold medals at the FIS Freeski and Snowboard World Championships in Aspen.
Snowboarding phenomenon Sadowski-Synnott stunned her rivals to claim first place in the Slopestyle World Championship after a stumbling start to the competition.
Along with thegold medal, Sadowski-Synnott has become the first person to ever defend a FIS Snowboard World Championship title and it came at the last possible moment for the 24-year-old.
Sadowski-Synnott came into the finals as the top qualifier but struggled to land clean runs on her first two attempts; with stumbles on the top rail and first jump. However, with stomped landings on her switch back 900 and backside 1080 it was clear a podium run was ready and waiting if she could link it all together on the third and final attempt.
And that's exactly what happened as she jumped from dead last into the top spot on the very last run of the competition. Sadowski-Synnott signalled that she was setting up for a high score with a technical rail run at the top of the course before lacing together a stylish switch back 900, frontside 720 and backside double 1080 on the jumps for a score of 85.95.
"I knew if I landed my run I had a good chance of taking the top spot," she said in a media statement. "It was all up to me, I knew I could do those tricks, I was just trying to get it done so I could defend the title."
Love seeing Kiwis fly on the world stage! Zoi Sadowski-Synnott crashed in her first two runs then stomped an epic third run to defend her World Champs title in snowboard slopestyle! #aspen2021 š„@fissnowboard@TheNZTeam
Double Olympic gold medallist Jamie Anderson (USA) came in second with a score of 81.10 while Australia's Tess Coady rounded out the podium in third place.
Also among the top eight competitors in the women's snowboard slopestyle finals was 18-year-old Queenstown rider, Cool Wakushima, making her World Championships debut and with only one World Cup start to her name. Cool, despite finishing last of the finalists, put together a promising performance, upping her score on each of her three runs.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Porteous became the first New Zealander to claim a FIS World Championship title for Freeski after an impressive opening run.
After qualifying fourth for the finals, Porteous was nonetheless rated as the man to beat, with arguably the most progressive run in men's freeski halfpipe at the moment. Competing at X Games Aspen in the very same halfpipe six weeks ago, Nico won the gold medal with a new trick combination of back-to-back left and right 1620s. He is the only athlete ever to land this in competition.
With 10 men in the final and three runs to earn the top score, the question was when would Nico choose to play his hand. The answer was, straight out of the gate. Nico boosted out of the start in run one, went for the back-to-back 16s, landed clean and skied away with a score of 94.5.
Nico Porteous is the first New Zealander to claim a FIS World Championship title for Freeski. Photo / Photosport
Canada's Simon D'Artois landed an impressive run, including five double corks, earning him a score of 91.25; enough for the silver medal but not enough to unseat Porteous. Birk Irving (USA) finished in the bronze medal position on 89.75 points.
"I went through a crazy high at X Games with the result there and then two days later I broke my foot and went through a low period, stuck at home for a month," Nico explained to media after the competition.
"First day of (World Champs) training was my first day back in the pipe and my foot was feeling good. I'm just absolutely stoked, this pipe has been so good to me."
