New Zealand snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has won her second medal at the 2021 Snowboarding World Championships in Aspen in the United States.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
After making history to become the first person to successfully defend her World Championship title in the Slopestyle competition over the weekend, Sadowski-Synnott continued her fine form by picking up a silver medal in the Big Air competition.
She kicked off her first two runs by successfully landing a 1080 melon grab and a backside 1080 weddle grab which gave her a combined score of 176.75 points.
"I'm pretty happy, my goal was to start with frontside 1080 and then do the backside 1080 second run. I hadn't done the frontside 1080 since X Games, I landed it in training today and it felt awesome," she said.
The 20-year-old had been dominating the competition in her first two runs but a rough landing on her final run meant she narrowly lost out on the gold medal with Canada's Lauren Blouin taking the win at Buttermilk Ski Resort.
Sadowski-Synnott said nerves got the best of her in her final run and she's already looking at areas to improve.
"I pulled out (midway through the 1260) because I knew I didn't have it, I went way too big as I was nervous and excited, I knew I had to land it to win. This was my second attempt at the 1260 in competition so now I know what I need to work on for next season," she said.
Today's silver medal represents her best result in the Big Air section of the World Championships after she placed 4th in 2017.
This was her fourth time making a podium finish at the World Championships since she made her debut at the competition in 2017.
Fellow New Zealander, Nico Porteous, picked up his first World Championship medal over the weekend winning gold in the Freeski halfpipe.
Porteous became the first New Zealander to win the Freeski halfpipe competition just over a month after breaking his foot while skateboarding.
