Zoi Sadowski Synnott has claimed the gold medal in snowboard slopestyle at X Games, backing up the silver medal she earned in snowboard big air on Thursday (Friday NZT). The 17-year-old is in Aspen for the prestigious invitation-only event which is considered one of the pinnacle competitions in winter sport. Zoi was originally named as an alternate (reserve) for today’s competition, only receiving the final call up this morning.
The second rider to drop in to the course, Zoi stomped her first run with back to back 900s and a double wildcat to score 90 points from a possible 100. It was the first time she had landed the run in competition.
"I'd got the run in training and I knew I was going to have put something good down so I thought better to have three cracks at this than start with a mellow run that I wouldn't be stoked on. I couldn't believe it when I got a 90, I've never scored a 90 in a slopestyle competition so getting that and landing a new run was awesome, it wouldn't even really have mattered if I hadn't won a medal."
Holding the top spot after run one but knowing that seven of the world’s best athletes would be chasing hard, Zoi looked to tidy up her trick execution and was able to up her score to a 91 on run three.
“Words can’t even describe how I’m feeling,” said Zoi. “I woke up this morning not even expecting to ride today and then I managed to land a run I hadn’t done before in competition. I’m just really happy.”
Hailey Langland (USA) finished in the silver medal spot, coming close to beating the Kiwi with a 90.66 on her final run. Finnish athlete Enni Rukajarvi was third.
Watch Zoi's run
5 years ago