Zoi Sadowski-Synnott on the Natural Selection Tour in Canada Photo: Tom Monterosso
Wanaka snowboard star Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has won an extreme event in Canada.
The 22 year old won the womens section of the head-to-head competition held on a "psycho" face dubbed Boulder Park in British Columbia.
She beat Hailey Langlan in the semi-finals and another American Elena Hight in the final of the second leg of the Natural Selection Tour.
Sadowski-Synnott said, "I knew Elena was going do some crazy lines, so I wanted to stick to what I knew and go where the take-offs were to spin off and try to find little pillow lines that were still untracked and soft and make it to the bottom in one piece."
She did just that, dropping a backflip and hunting down airs as she attacked the now-familiar technical terrain to earn a 79.2, the second-highest score of the day after her 80 in semi-finals, which also earned her the Run Of The Day.
Sadowski-Synnott is coming off a series of slopestyle and big air podium finishes this winter says, "I feel super honoured and privileged to be able to compete in this competition because it's the best backcountry riders in the world, riding the best snow in the most psycho terrain. To be part of it is pretty insane. Coming from a slopestyle and big air background, it's so different but kind of the same in the sense where you're just trying to ride your best and perform on the day."
"I haven't ridden a lot of pillows in my life, so to come here and ride this definitely was a learning curve and I'm super stoked-I feel like I pushed myself and everyone rode some insanely sick lines!"
The win marks Sadowski-Synnott's 24th consecutive podium finish across all disciplines, all achieved over the last three years - a phenomenal achievement from an incredible athlete and person.
She finished second in the Slopestyle at the World Championships in Georgia last month.