Zoi Sadowski-Synott Photo: PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has claimed the silver medal at the Snowboard Slopestyle World Championships in Georgia.
"Winning a medal here means a lot to me, it's my last slopestyle competition of the season and it's sick to land my run," said the 21 year old from Wanaka.
"Of course, I wanted to try and back up the World Champion title, but I did everything I could."
Sadowski-Synnott was the top qualifier for the final, meaning she was the final athlete to drop for each of the two runs, an advantageous position to be in.
Dropping into her first run she laced together a stylish run, which included a technical jump section with a switch back 900 into a frontside 1080 and finishing with a backside 1080. The judges liked what they saw and rewarded her with an 88.78, putting her into gold medal position after the first run.
Her run one score held as the top score throughout run two, that is until second to last rider Mia Brookes of Great Britain dropped in. Brookes made history, landing the first cab double cork 1440 in women's competition and was rewarded for her amazing progression and difficulty of the trick.
The talented 16-year-old was ecstatic, although she had a nervous wait at the bottom of the course for Sadowski-Synnott to take her final run.
Sadowski-Synnott knew that Brookes had landed something special from the roar of the crowd but wasn't aware of the historical moment. She dropped in and gave it everything she had, but was unable to better her first run score, finishing in second place overall today.
Sadowski-Synnott, the Olympic champion, gave props to Brookes, acknowledging her incredible riding today.
"Mia is leading snowboarding competition at the moment, especially on the jumps. She is competing on the World Cup circuit at the moment and pushing all of us girls to ride our best."
Fellow Kiwi athlete Lyon Farrell finished ninth in the Men's Snowboard Slopestyle finals, a career best Slopestyle World Championships result for the 24-year-old.
The action continues tomorrow with the Freeski Slopestyle World Championships.