The Wanaka wonder yesterday became the 55th New Zealander to win an Olympic gold medal, but the first to do it at a Winter Games.
Her stunning final run in the women’s slopestyle meant she became the first snowboarder to add an Olympic gold medal to a world championship title and an X Games gold medal in the space of 12 months.
It is fast becoming difficult to find new words of praise to shower on Sadowski-Synnott, who has become a relentless winning machine on the professional circuit and, at 20, could have years of success to come.
But for a time yesterday, it appeared she was going to have to "settle" for silver to go with the bronze she won in big air at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
She led after a clean first run scored 84.51 but had to watch Julia Marino, the US snowboarder who qualified sixth, lay down the gauntlet with an 87.68 in her second run.
That left all the pressure on Sadowski-Synnott’s shoulders for her third and final run, and she responded with a precise effort over the rails section and a series of tricks — a switch backside 900, a frontside 1080 and a backside 1080 — that she completed almost faultlessly.
"I was super lucky by qualifying in first so that I could drop last," she said.
"Everyone out there had a chance at medalling and you just had to be completely, 100% on it."
“It was a crazy moment and shows how special snowboarding is,” Sadowski-Synnott told Sky Sport.
“You can cheer more for when your friends do well than yourself. That’s why I love it.”
Still, there had to be a winner, and the Wanaka boarder ensured the New Zealand flag would be raised for the first time in cold weather when she posted a 92.88 to comfortably seal gold and a place in the history books.
"It makes me pretty emotional. I’m just super proud."
Sadowski-Synnott had a rough build-up the Olympics, having a long spell off with a leg injury then battling Covid.
Her father, Sean Synnott, said she was made of tough stuff.
"She’s obviously a world-class athlete," he told the Otago Daily Times.
"And there might be a couple more Olympic cycles in her."
Synnott did not think his daughter would have been remotely bothered by a stumble in the second round then having the pressure of needing to shine in her final run to jump from silver to gold.
"She’s a consummate athlete and she obviously had a plan."
Sadowski-Synnott was just 16 when she win her first Olympic medal.
Since then, she has dominated the sport, meaning she was under much more pressure to perform this time, her father said.
"There was no expectation on her four years ago, when she was really mainly there for experience and to enjoy the environment.
"This time has been a hell of a lot more stressful because there was a huge amount of expectation on her.
"And, wow, she pulled it off. She just keeps pulling them out of the bag, and we’re super proud of her."
Synnott said his daughter had a big support team that had done great work to lay the foundation for Olympic glory.
That included coach Sean Thompson, High Performance Sport NZ and Snow Sports NZ, as well as a very proud mother, Robin Sadowski-Synnott.
"Mum is the one who pulls everyone’s heads in when they’re maybe slightly off kilter."
The pioneering Wells family, of Wanaka, also deserved huge credit for inspiring this generation of youngsters into freeskiing and snowboarding, he said.
Sadowski-Synnott gets a crack at another medal next week when she tackles the big air.
"I think Zoi showed at the X Games that she’s got two golds in her, and her aspiration is definitely to win two gold medals," Synnott said.
"Will we be disappointed if she doesn’t win two golds? Probably not. There are some absolutely outstanding athletes in the sport, and anything could happen."
Her parents expect to see the snowboarding star in about July.
After Beijing, she is off to take part in the second Natural Selection Tour, which combines competitive action with big mountain riding.
In the men’s snowboard slopestyle, New Zealander Tiarn Collins finished yesterday’s qualifying in 18th place.
The top 12 of the 30 competitors progressed to today’s final.
