The Front Page: Zoi Sadowski-Synott and Nico Porteous on making Olympic history

New Zealand Winter Olympic Games medalists Nico Porteous (R) and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (L). Photo / Getty Images

This week, The Front Page is showcasing several high-profile New Zealanders who stood out in their field in 2022.

Aotearoa saw multiple sporting highlights over the last year, from our success at the Commonwealth Games to the Black Ferns’ World Cup victory.

But back in February, history was made when our country won its first-ever gold medals at the Winter Olympics.

Zoi Sadowski-Synott claimed gold first in the women’s slopestyle, followed later by Nico Porteous in the halfpipe.

They were both only 16 when they won their first medals in 2018, and their 2022 victories further cemented their historic status.

The pair joined The Front Page podcast to share their personal experiences on what it takes to become a champion in a sport that requires you to defy death almost every time you do it.

Reflecting on his gold-medal-winning run, Porteous says nothing is left to chance when it comes to a halfpipe run with that level of difficulty.

“There’s no improvisation that goes on ever in what we do,” says Porteous.

“We have 0.3 of a second to get things right, sometimes less than that. The amount of planning that goes into a run is just ridiculous. I planned the run that I did at the Olympics for three years prior to doing it, and pretty much every training moment we had was used to be able to plan and land that run.

“Our sport is so dangerous that we constantly need to calculate risk and part of that is planning far ahead.”

It’s also a sport that constantly demands athletes to push the bounds of what’s possible to stay competitive in a field of athletes who are all looking to make their tricks a bit bigger than what came before.

“That’s what I love about it,” says Porteous.

“We don’t really have any rules of what we can and can’t do. We can push the boundaries as much as we want or we can not push the boundaries and use our style. In my case, I really enjoy pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and creating new tricks and doing things that no one has ever done.”

This intense drive is also evident in Sadowski-Synott, who tells The Front Page that she definitely feels the pressure to keep pushing.

“There are so many things that haven’t been done and there’s a pathway there,” she says.

“That’s very exciting for me. Planning those tricks that I want to do and how to get there. And then just going through the motions of trying the trick and hopefully achieving my goals. It’s the best feeling ever to set those goals, go through the battle, progress and finally [land] them and then to just turn them into normal tricks.”

However, this level of dedication necessitates quite a few sacrifices – none more so than the time spent away from family.

“The biggest impact on me and my family is time away. I spend about six months out of the year away. It’s a blessing because I get to travel the world, but it’s also a curse for sure.”

This is part of the reason why Sadowski-Synott and Porteous have both backed the campaign to have a dry slope facility established in Wanaka.

“Every single one of our biggest competitors has a dry slope in their country that they train on all summer,” says Sadowski-Synott.

“It would be amazing to have that here because it would mean that athletes and aspiring athletes can go there during summer – particularly if they can’t afford to head overseas to train.”

She says this will be integral to ensuring that Aotearoa is able to compete on the international level.

It would also help to set the stage for others to follow in the footsteps of these two talented young New Zealanders.

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page to hear from the pair on what these medals meant to them and where their aspirations might lead them next.