Wanaka superstar Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has ticked another one off the bucket list.
The unstoppable 21-year-old snowboarder won the Laax Open Slopestyle World Cup for the first time in Switzerland yesterday.
Laax is one of freestyle skiing and snowboarding’s great venues, and its major event is considered the pinnacle of European snowboarding, so little wonder the Beijing gold medallist was beaming yesterday.
"I am so stoked," Sadowski-Synnott said.
"I have been dreaming of winning the Laax Open since I started competing. The weather has been pretty nuts, practice was pretty crazy, so to have the sun come out for finals is super sick."
After a postponement on Sunday due to snow and low visibility, the snowboard slopestyle finals were able to be held yesterday.
The course was running slow due to fresh snow overnight and the riders were searching for every ounce of speed they could find.
Sadowski-Synnott laced together a solid first of two runs, including a front 450 out of the second rail, which impressed the judges, and they scored her accordingly.
She showed her class and experience, making trick decisions mid-run to manage the speed, opting for a backside 720 instead of her planned 1080 on the third jump.
Regardless, her first run score of 81.30 held up as the top score of the day and she secured the first Laax Open victory of her astonishing career.
After her second run, Sadowski-Synnott had a nervy wait at the bottom of the course as snowboarding great Anna Gasser, of Austria, and talented British boarder Mia Brookes still had their final runs to go.
"Sitting down here was nerve-racking as Mia’s run was so good, and even watching Anna go down, it could have gone either way.
"I am so glad I put down that first run."
Brookes (16) claimed second place at the first slopestyle world cup of her career, and Gasser rounded out the podium in third.
Queenstown boarder Tiarn Collins competed in the men’s slopestyle finals.
A wobble meant he did not complete his first run. He put together his second run, but just a couple of small mistakes in such a highly stacked field cost him dearly, finishing in 10th place.
Sadowski-Synnott will not have much time to celebrate her victory.
She is back in action this weekend at the invite-only Aspen X Games, where she will be defending her big air and slopestyle gold medals.
- Staff reporter
