Following an outstanding year of results - which include a World Championship title, gold and silver X Games medals and a Burton U.S Open Snowboarding Championship title - New Zealand snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has been nominated for the Best Female Action Sports Athlete award at the ESPYS.
Running since 1993, the ESPYS are presented by the American broadcast television network ABC and previously ESPN, to recognise individual and team sporting achievements on the world stage. Award winners are chosen through voting by fans as well as a panel of sportswriters, broadcasters, sports executives, and sportspersons.
Sadowski-Synnott is one of four NZ athletes nominated for 2019 ESPYs. MMA fighter Israel Adesanya, Indy Car driver Scott Dixon and footballer Abby Erceg are also nominees in their respective sports.
New Zealand athletes previously nominated for ESPYs include golfer Lydia Ko – named Best Female Golfer in 2015 and 2016 and nominated for Best International Athlete in 2015 – and Kiwi IndyCar driver Scott Dixon who was nominated for Best Driver in 2015.
“I just look at the past year in wonder and can’t believe how everything’s gone. I’m stoked to be nominated, it’s a huge honour,” says Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, who hopes to attend the awards ceremony in Los Angeles on 10 July.
Snowboarders Jamie Anderson (USA) and Anna Gasser (AUT) are previous winners of the Best Female Action Sports Athlete award (2014 and 2017 respectively) and Sadowski-Synnott says it feels “crazy” to be following in their footsteps as a nominee. US snowboarder Chloe Kim who won Breakthrough Athlete and Best Female Action Sports Athlete in 2016, and Best U.S Female Olympian, Best Female Action Sports Athlete and Best Female Athlete in 2018, is also a nominee this year.
Sadowski-Synnott is up against stiff competition in her category with Estonian freeskier Kelly Sildaru also in the running. Sildaru notched up three medals at this year’s X Games (gold in Ski Slopestyle, silver in Ski Superpipe, bronze in Ski Big Air) bringing her career total to an impressive seven X Games podiums.
Australian Stephanie Gilmore – with Seven World Surf League Championship titles to her name - rounds out the list of nominees for Best Female Action Sports Athlete.
Since being named Snow Sports NZ Athlete of the Year in 2017, the accolades have spread further and further afield for Zoi Sadowski Synnott. She was named Central Otago Junior Sportswoman of the Year 2019, Supreme Winner and Sportswoman of the Year at the ASB Otago Sports Awards in 2018 and 2019, and was a finalist for Sportswoman of the Year at the 56th ISPS Handa Halberg Awards in February 2019.
Fans have the chance to select the 2019 ESPY winners by voting online. Follow this link to vote
5 years ago
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott