Zoi Sadowski-Synnott successfully defends X Games Slopestyle gold medal

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (Wānaka, 21) has successfully defended her X Games Gold medal at the prestigious, invite only event this morning in Aspen. This marks Sadowski-Synnott’s fourth X Games Slopestyle gold medal and her eighth X Games medal, a phenomenal feat.

Right after her win Sadowski-Synnott said; “Honestly, I can’t really believe it, it could have gone any way today, everyone is absolutely ripping and I am so stoked for Tess and Kokomo. I am proud of what we were all able to do in these conditions.”

The weather was challenging in Aspen, light snow falling combined with flat light was adding another layer of complexity to the course today. Fresh snow on the landings of the jumps meant the riders had to be precision perfect to stick their landings.

The X Games Jeep Slopestyle has a different judging format to the usual FIS format – the women had a thirty minute window to take as many runs as possible, and rather than the judges giving the athletes a score, they simply rank them.

Despite the challenging conditions, Sadowski-Synnott, the final athlete to drop in each round, made quick work of the course, securing the top spot after her second run 

Tess Coady of Australia took her next run and bumped Sadowski-Synnott down into second place. Sadowski-Synnott pushed hard to get back into the top spot with her third run, but got caught up in the fresh snow on the landing of the second jump.

With everything on the line for her fourth and final run, Sadowski-Synnott knew she had to make it count. No stranger to pressure, she did exactly that, lacing together a technical rail run that included a huge cab 270 gap onto the flat down.

Finishing off her run with a backside 900 and a switch backside 900, there was a nervous wait at the bottom of the course, waiting to see if her run could knock Coady out of the top spot. 

The ranking came in and Sadowski-Synnott was once again on top of the podium at the biggest snowboard slopestyle event of the season. Australian Tess Coady claimed the silver medal, with Kokomo Murase in bronze medal position.

Sadowski-Synnott is in action again on Sunday from 2.15pm NZT, where she will be defending her X Games Big Air gold medal. Live stream available on the X Games YouTube channel (@xgames).