Back-to-back wins at snowboard competitions in Canada have provided a good warm-up for up-and-coming Wanaka snowboarder Zoi Sadowski Synnott, before a busy few months competing in world cup and world championship events throughout Europe and the United States.
The 15-year-old gained first placings in snowboard halfpipe and slopestyle competitions in Calgary over the weekend.
She said she was hyped to come away with two wins and it was a good opportunity to fine-tune tricks and gain more competition experience before the world cups.
She was one of four New Zealanders to compete in Calgary. Fletcher Craig (Te Awamutu) won the men's halfpipe competition and finished 11th in slopestyle. Lachlan Blackmore (Auckland) finished fifth in slopestyle and seventh in halfpipe, and Mitchell Davern (Auckland) finished sixth in slopestyle and ninth in halfpipe. All four athletes are coached by Olympian Mitch Brown.
Sadowski Synnott will travel to Mammoth Mountain, California, to compete at a snowboard slopestyle world cup at the beginning of next month and then back to Canada for the Calgary World Cup slopestyle and big air competitions a week later.
In March, she will compete at the world championships in Spain followed by a slopestyle world cup and then junior world champs in the Czech Republic.
She competed at her first world cup big air competition at Copper Mountain in the United States in December and finished an impressive ninth in a quality field.
