Unstoppable Zoi Sadowski-Synnott wins Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has taken the win at the FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup in Aspen.

This is marks Sadowski-Synnott’s third slopestyle World Cup win of her career, and her first since she has made her comeback from an ankle injury in 2024.

The Wānaka 23-year-old says: “I definitely got a bit of confidence coming off LAAX two weeks ago and I worked so hard to get back to this level and be competing with the rest of the girls because they are pushing it so hard, I am so happy to be back.”

As the top qualifier into today’s finals, Sadowski-Synnott earned the advantage of dropping last into each of the two finals runs. She put down a solid first run that had her sitting in the top spot, but with a couple of bobbles on the rails, and some of the top riders on the start list today, there was no guarantee it would hold.

Kokomo Murase of Japan put down a strong second run, which bumped Sadowski-Synnott off the top spot, but as the last athlete to drop Sadowski-Synnott had the deciding run. She managed the pressure without a problem and put down her winning run, tidying up the rail section and then lacing her back-to-back double corked 1080’s on the last two jumps.

“I watched her [Kokomo’s] last run and knew it was going to knock my first run score so I knew that I needed to clean up that rail section and I am stoked how it came out, stepping it up from X Games last week," Sadowski-Synnott says.

Sadowski-Synnott took the win by a significant margin as the only woman to score in the 80’s with an 87.80. Murase finished in second place with Great Britain’s Mia Brookes rounding out the star-studded podium in third.

Sadowski-Synnott was stoked to be a part of the event today, saying: "All the girls were riding really well with the conditions, when we pulled up this morning it was so icy and the light was flat, it got a bit softer as the day went on so I am stoked everyone made it through all good and put down some good runs.”

The men’s snowboard slopestyle World Cup finals also went down in Aspen this morning, with Kiwi’s Dane Menzies and Rocco Jamieson dropping in. Menzies had a career best result, finishing in fourth place and putting down a frontside 1800 for his first time in a slopestyle run. Jamieson finished in twelfth.

The action continues this morning with Fin Melville Ives and Luke Harrold dropping into the freeski halfpipe World Cup finals.