Zoi claims silver at World Championships
Snowboarding phenomenon Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has claimed the silver medal at the FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Championships held in Georgia.
Talented teenager Mia Brookes of Great Britain took gold after landing the first cab double cork 1440 in women’s competition
Wānaka 21-year-old Sadowski-Synnott said: "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. Of course, I wanted to try and back up the World Champion title, but I did everything I could, and I am so stoked for Mia."
Sadowski-Synnott was the top qualifier into today’s 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 cab double cork 1440 and was rewarded for her amazing progression and difficulty of the trick.
The 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 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.”
Zoi in action on the jump at the Slopestyle World Championships. Photo: Chad Buchholz / FIS Snowboarding
Fellow Kiwi athlete Lyon Farrell competed today in the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle finals, finishing in ninth place, a career best Slopestyle World Championships result for the 24-year-old.
The action continues tomorrow with the Freeski Slopestyle World Championships. Earlier today Ruby Star Andrews (Queenstown, 18) qualified into the women’s finals in 6th position. Yesterday (26 February) Ben Barclay (Auckland, 21) qualified into the men’s final in 8th position. They will both be competing in their respective finals tomorrow (28 February).
Slopestyle was the first event for the Kiwi's at the 2023 FIS Freeski and Snowboard Park and Pipe World Championships. In the coming week Kiwi athletes will be dropping into the Snowboard Big Air, Freeski Big Air and the Freeski Halfpipe, we can't wait to see them fly.
