Collecting big air silver has completed Zoi Sadowski-Synnott's full set of Winter Olympic medals - and at just 20, she's stomped her mark as one of the greats of the sport.
It was a plan Zoi Sadowski-Synnott hatched four years ago – a meticulous plan to go at least one better than the Olympic bronze she’d just won in the snowboard big air above Pyeongchang.
And it almost fell into place perfectly in the skies above an abandoned steel mill in Beijing on Tuesday.
When she first decided to target the 2022 Winter Olympics, Sadowski-Synnott had to almost peer into a crystal ball to figure out what the best big air snowboarders in the world would be doing in four year's time. Not a simple task in a sport that’s progressing at lightning pace.
Not only that, she had to work out how to beat them all.
And with her final trick on the Big Air Shougang ski jump, she came oh-so close to pulling it off and winning her second gold of these Olympics. A trick she’d mastered only six weeks ago.
The snowboarding phenom from Wanaka knew that to clinch big air gold – to match the slopestyle victory she'd claimed nine days earlier – she’d have to execute the biggest trick in her arsenal.
A backside double cork 1260, with an indy grab.
Ten days ago, that would have read as gobbledygook to most Kiwis. Now, a lot more of us can kind-of decipher it – Sadowski-Synnott’s body rotating three-and-a-half times in the air, while grabbing the board with her back hand between her legs.
She’d had one hand on the gold from her first big trick, and kept it there right up until the penultimate snowboarder, Austrian Anna Gasser, dropped in for her final attempt.
Gasser – a veteran of the sport at 30 – was the defending Olympic champion, and just as she’d done at the 2018 Olympics, saved her best till last. The first woman in the sport to land a double 1260 three years ago, she did it again when she had to.
Sadowski-Synnott had been holding on to the lead by her fingertips before Gasser’s almost-perfect jump, and knew she’d need to stomp out a trick she’d never done in competition before.
“Dropping into that last one, I knew I had to give it everything I had. I only learned that a month and a half ago,” she said afterwards.
But in her eagerness, and perhaps a little nervousness, she put in “a little too much speed”. She almost hung on to it, her coach Sean Thompson explained, but was “too deep on the landing” and sat back on the snow.
The Kiwi knew she had at least silver before her final attempt – courtesy of two strong double cork 1080s – and still managed to find one of her trademark smiles as Gasser was tackled by the rest of her competitors in celebration of winning back-to-back golds.
Adding silver to complete a full Olympic medal set, Sadowski-Synnott’s achievement in Beijing is nothing short of incredible. It was New Zealand’s second medal of these games, and only the fifth medal in our Winter Olympics’ history.
She’s now one of only seven snowboarders to own three Olympics medals, with some of the greats of the sport, like Jamie Anderson and Shaun White. And she’s only really hitting her straps.
“Unbelievable,” coach Thompson said. “She’s amazing and she’s done something special here. We can’t believe it as a team, and it’s just really, really exciting to watch her do her thing.”
While not buzzing like she was after becoming New Zealand's first Winter Olympic champion, Sadowski-Synnott was still "stoked" with silver. “I came here to put down my best tricks and almost got there," she said.
She gave big plaudits to Gasser for pushing her to where she is today.
“Seeing Anna on top of the podium again was really fitting, cause she’s been the main pusher of the women’s progression in the last eight years, so [I’m] so happy for her,” she said. She was proud, too, of Japanese bronze medallist Kokomo Murase in her debut Olympics, who’d been “giving it hell” since she arrived on the scene four years ago.
To show just how much the sport is leaping ahead, one of Murase’s team-mates, Reira Iwabuchi, almost completed a triple cork 1440 – a trick never seen in women’s snowboarding. She crashed on landing but was still congratulated by her wide-eyed opponents.
Back at home, Snow Sports NZ performance services manager Michelle Wood marvelled at how effortless Sadowski-Synnott made her performances seem.
“She makes it look so easy. But each run is so meticulously planned out over four years," she said.
“Zoi is a super chilled young woman, really driven, but she has the ability to handle pressure so well. Her coach Sean does a really good job of keeping a nice balance, and keeping things fun. He encourages her to go to Japan and ski powder days or go surfing.”
Surfing and celebrations at home will have to wait for now. Sadowski-Synnott heads straight to Canada to compete in the Natural Selection Tour event at Baldface Lodge, British Columbia, next week. As a triple Olympic medallist, no less.
Images of the day
Quote of the day
“We’re really just stoked for New Zealand women’s sport. I hope she’s become an inspiration for a lot of young New Zealanders. You know, set a goal, set it young, follow through. C’mon girls get out there and do your thing.” Sean Synnott on his daughter's double-medal influence on young women.
The not-so-good news
While Zoi stands at the peak of the mountain, other New Zealand athletes never began their final ascents.
So far, no other member of the Kiwi contingency has come close to her success, missing out on qualifying for finals or finishing in the middle (or, in some cases, back) of the pack.
Only Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous (yet to compete) were predicted by the Associated Press to win medals, but the disappointment has been evident from the other Kiwi athletes who couldn’t land their tricks, stay on their feet or find their form.
After two disappointing performances at these Olympics, Kiwi skier Alice Robinson decided last-minute to enter Tuesday's downhill, saying "why not, I’ll have a crack”. Only her third time competing in the downhill event, Robinson managed to complete the course with a mistake-free run - but was a bit bumpy and fell off the pace early. Reaching a top speed of almost 130km/h, Robinson’s time of 1m 35.57s was only good enough for 25th of the 36 competitors.
The controversy
Fifteen-year-old Russian figure skating prodigy Kamila Valieva may sweep up multiple medals in Beijing - but she will probably go home empty-handed.
The talented teen has been cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to compete in the women’s short programme this evening, after she was briefly suspended when it came to light she'd tested positive for a banned substance - the heart medication trimetazidine - on Christmas Day last year. The first woman to land a quadruple jump at an Olympics, Valieva is the obvious favourite to win gold after already helping the Russian Olympic Committee win the team event.
Her results will still be under consideration, as a full investigation takes place after the Games, but she’s sure to put down a stunning routine.
Who’s up next
Anja Barugh and Chloe McMillan start their Beijing campaigns on Thursday at 2.30pm when they compete in the freeski halfpipe qualifications. The duo both hail from Hamilton and will make their Olympic debuts when they drop in.
And it's finally business time for the Kiwi freeski men, showing all their tricks on the halfpipe on Thursday. Ben Harrington, Gustav Legnavsky and Miguel Porteous will join Pyeongchang bronze medallist Nico Porteous from 5.30pm.
